Jer 13:1-14 I Will Fill all the Inhabitants of this Land With Drunkenness

[Study Aired July 11, 2021]

Jer 13:1  Thus saith the LORD unto me, Go and get thee a linen girdle, and put it upon thy loins, and put it not in water.
Jer 13:2  So I got a girdle according to the word of the LORD, and put it on my loins.
Jer 13:3  And the word of the LORD came unto me the second time, saying,
Jer 13:4  Take the girdle that thou hast got, which is upon thy loins, and arise, go to Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole of the rock.
Jer 13:5  So I went, and hid it by Euphrates, as the LORD commanded me.
Jer 13:6  And it came to pass after many days, that the LORD said unto me, Arise, go to Euphrates, and take the girdle from thence, which I commanded thee to hide there.
Jer 13:7  Then I went to Euphrates, and digged, and took the girdle from the place where I had hid it: and, behold, the girdle was marred, it was profitable for nothing.
Jer 13:8  Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Jer 13:9  Thus saith the LORD, After this manner will I mar the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem.
Jer 13:10  This evil people, which refuse to hear my words, which walk in the imagination of their heart, and walk after other gods, to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as this girdle, which is good for nothing.
Jer 13:11  For as the girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man, so have I caused to cleave unto me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, saith the LORD; that they might be unto me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory: but they would not hear.
Jer 13:12  Therefore thou shalt speak unto them this word; Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Every bottle shall be filled with wine: and they shall say unto thee, Do we not certainly know that every bottle shall be filled with wine?
Jer 13:13  Then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land, even the kings that sit upon David’s throne, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with drunkenness.
Jer 13:14  And I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together, saith the LORD: I will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, but destroy them.

In this study we are presented with an unwashed linen girdle which Jeremiah is commanded to wrap around his own loins and wear on a two-hundred mile journey to the Euphrates River. Then he is commanded to take it off and “hide it in a hole of the rock”.

Jer 13:1  Thus saith the LORD unto me, Go and get thee a linen girdle, and put it upon thy loins, and put it not in water.
Jer 13:2  So I got a girdle according to the word of the LORD, and put it on my loins.
Jer 13:3  And the word of the LORD came unto me the second time, saying,
Jer 13:4  Take the girdle that thou hast got, which is upon thy loins, and arise, go to Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole of the rock.
Jer 13:5  So I went, and hid it by Euphrates, as the LORD commanded me.

Going to the Euphrates signifies how soon we leave our first love and are carried away into the arms of the great Babylonian harlot to serve “another Jesus [and] another gospel”.

2Co 11:4  For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.

Gal 1:6  I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:
Gal 1:7  Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.
Gal 1:8  But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
Gal 1:9  As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.

The Euphrates River signifies Babylon which was built on that river.

Psa 137:1  By the rivers of Babylon [the Euphrates], there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.

Then, “after many days” the Lord gives Jeremiah further instructions:

Jer 13:6  And it came to pass after many days, that the LORD said unto me, Arise, go to Euphrates, and take the girdle from thence, which I commanded thee to hide there.

“After many days” signifies the prophesied “seventy years” we all spend in Babylon:

Jer 25:8  Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Because ye have not heard my words,
Jer 25:9  Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the LORD, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations.
Jer 25:10  Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle.
Jer 25:11  And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

Seventy years signifies the time needed to ‘fulfill the sins of the Amorites’ in our lives in accord with the Lord’s predetermined plan for each of us:

Gen 15:16  But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.

“The iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full” reveals the principle of God’s sovereignty being worked out in all things, including our iniquities:

Pro 16:4  The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

Our time in Babylon corrupts us to the point that we are of no use to the Lord:

Jer 13:7  Then I went to Euphrates, and digged, and took the girdle from the place where I had hid it: and, behold, the girdle was marred, it was profitable for nothing.

The Lord’s instructions to Jeremiah… “take the girdle from thence, which I commanded thee to hide there” is the same as telling John to “measure the temple and them that worship therein”:

Rev 11:1  And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.

When Jeremiah inspected the girdle, he discovers “the girdle was marred, it was profitable for nothing.”

That is the same message we are given in 1 Corinthians 3 where we are told that “every man”, including the Lord’s “very elect”, must come to see himself as “chief…of…sinners” and as this unwashed linen girdle which has spent “many days” in Babylon and is now “profitable for nothing”.

1Co 3:13  Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.
1Co 3:14  If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
1Co 3:15  If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
1Co 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1Co 3:17  If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

We are all profitable for nothing until the seven plagues of the seven angels have been fulfilled in our lives. It is those seven plagues which burn up our old man and replace him with our new converted man. This is all in the aorist tense and is a process which is taking place throughout this present time.

Rev 15:7  And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever.
Rev 15:8  And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time [the seven last plagues] are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

Just like all the apostles, we all first contend with our Lord.  We all deny and forsake Him before He strengthens us to overcome our fears and die daily with Him:

Mat 16:21  From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.
Mat 16:22  Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.
Mat 16:23  But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.

Mark adds that Christ “looked on His disciples” as He rebuked Peter, knowing that Peter was speaking for them all:

Mar 8:31  And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.
Mar 8:32  And he spake that saying openly. And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him.
Mar 8:33  But when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men.

Peter and all the apostles could think nothing other than what they all thought at that moment. They had no knowledge of the need for their Messiah to die for them, even though it is right there in Isaiah:

Isa 53:6  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Isa 53:7  He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
Isa 53:8  He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
Isa 53:9  And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
Isa 53:10  Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
Isa 53:11  He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
Isa 53:12  Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong [with His elect]; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

The apostles were just as blind without the holy spirit as all of us were also blind during those years we spent in Babylon as a ‘marred, profitable for nothing girdle’. But even this “marred…unprofitable” condition is not our doing. According to the Lord’s own words, it is He who is ‘marring the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem.’

Jer 13:8  Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Jer 13:9  Thus saith the LORD, After this manner will I mar the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem.

It is the Lord Himself who makes us “marred… profitable for nothing” and gives us ‘ears that cannot hear and eyes that cannot see these mysteries of His kingdom’. The Lord comes right out and tells us that He first makes us “marred” in His hand:

Jer 18:4  And the vessel that he made [Hebrew: Qal stem, ‘is making’] of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made [Hebrew: Qal stem. ‘is making’] it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
Jer 18:5  Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
Jer 18:6  O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.

The Potter’s house represents “this present time” for the Lord’s elect. Our flesh is signified by this worthless girdle.

Jer 13:10  This evil people, which refuse to hear my words, which walk in the imagination of their heart, and walk after other gods, to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as this girdle, which is good for nothing.

Isaiah explains why we ‘walk in the imagination of our own hearts and why we serve other gods’:

Isa 63:17  O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.

The apostle Paul had read these words, and he knew that when the Lord hardens our hearts, we are powerless to fear Him as we ought to:

Rom 9:15  For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
Rom 9:16  So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
Rom 9:17  For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
Rom 9:18  Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.

We are all given a hardened heart at the appointed time even after we come to the Lord with a pure heart. We all “leave [our] first love” and become as “profitable for nothing” as this unwashed girdle, and it is all a work of the Lord’s counsel and His hand:

Jer 13:11  For as the girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man, so have I caused to cleave unto me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, saith the LORD; that they might be unto me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory: but they would not hear.

This girdle typifies us as the Lord’s own people who have rejected Him. The “girdle” is worn around the loins to signify how the Lord has caused us to cleave to Him even as we become so unwashed that we are filthy. We think that our own bread and our own apparel are better than His bread and apparel. We certainly do not see ourselves as an unwashed girdle… profitable for nothing, but we still want His name.

Isa 4:1  And in that day seven women [the seven churches of Asia, the complete apostasy of the church, (2Ti 1:15, Rev 1:4)] shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach.

When the Lord “causes [us] to cleave unto [Him]… that [we] might be unto [Him] for a people and for a name and for a praise and for a glory”, there is nothing that we or anyone can do to resist His will:

Jer 18:5  Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
Jer 18:6  O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.

“But they would not hear” tells us that when the Lord blinds us and takes away our ability to hear His voice, He miraculously causes us to see only what we want to see. Our deaf state is not of our own doing. We are given eyes that cannot see, and we are given ears that cannot hear, to the point that we cannot come to God unless He drags us to Himself:

Joh 6:44  No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw [Greek: ‘helkuo’ drag] him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

Rom 11:8  (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear) unto this day.

In this deaf and blind condition, we become incapable of discerning the wine of His wrath from the wine He drinks with us in His kingdom:

Jer 25:15  For thus saith the LORD God of Israel unto me; Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it.
Jer 25:16  And they shall drink, and be moved, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them.
Jer 25:17  Then took I the cup at the LORD’S hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom the LORD had sent me:
Jer 25:18  To wit, Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, an hissing, and a curse; as it is this day;

Mat 26:29  But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.

We simply do not see that it is the Lord’s own people who are the first to drink of the wine of His wrath, and we actually believe He simply would never discipline His own house. All we are given to see are all the promises and blessings of His grace and His favor. Such was the affliction of the apostles themselves, and such is our own affliction before we are given to see how grace functions. They were not yet given to understand that “grace… chastens us to forsake ungodliness” (Tit 2:11-12), and they, typifying us, could not yet see that ‘whom the Lord loves He chastens and scourges every son He receives’ (Heb 12:6).

Tit 2:11  For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
Tit 2:12  Teaching [Greek G3811: paideuo, chastens] us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth [Greek G3811: paideuo, chastens], and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

So in our blinded and drunken condition when we read that the Lord will fill every bottle with wine, all we can see or think of is the wine of His blessing, and not the wine of His judgments, which make us reel to and fro as a drunken man (Psa 107:27). We cannot receive or accept the judgments of His chastening grace:

Jer 13:12  Therefore thou shalt speak unto them this word; Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Every bottle shall be filled with wine: and they shall say unto thee, Do we not certainly know that every bottle shall be filled with wine?

When we tell the Lord, “Do we not certainly know that every bottle shall be filled with wine?” we are telling Him what He must do.

A personal witness to the depth of this blindness is how I myself once understood this next verse many years ago as a Pentecostal:

Isa 45:11  Thus saith the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command ye me.

We literally wore that verse out foolishly proclaiming that God has endowed us with the ability to ‘command him concerning the work of His hands’. It is humiliating just thinking back on such utter ignorance! Here are a few of the verses which preceded verse 11:

Isa 45:5  I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:
Isa 45:6  That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me.  I am the LORD, and there is none else.
Isa 45:7  I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace,  and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

That places an entirely different perspective to a verse which is actually asking in sarcasm, “… concerning the work of My hands command ye me”?? Just read the next verse, and the point becomes super clear to anyone who is not blinded by God Himself:

Isa 45:8  Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I the LORD have created it.
Isa 45:9  Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth.  Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands? [“Command ye me concerning the work of my hands??”]

It is the Lord who ‘brings forth salvation’. We do not command the Lord to bring forth salvation. It certainly is not the potsherds whom ‘the Lord makes to err from His ways and hardens their hearts from His fear’ (Isa 63:17).

At His appointed time the Lord gives us to know exactly what an experience of evil He is working within us, making us completely spiritually drunk on and abusive of His words:

Jer 13:13  Then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land, even the kings that sit upon David’s throne, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with drunkenness.

When we tell the Lord, “Do we not certainly know that every bottle shall be filled with wine”, we are putting ourselves in the driver’s seat just like Job and the self-righteous Pharisee.

Job “knew of a certainty that every bottle was filled with wine.” He didn’t need the Lord to tell him the obvious. He was brimming over with integrity and righteousness, and he wants us all to know it:

Let’s look at Job’s estimation of himself:

Job 29:1  Moreover Job continued his parable, and said,
Job 29:2  Oh that I were as in months past, as in the days when God preserved me;
Job 29:3  When his candle shined upon my head, and when by his light I walked through darkness;
Job 29:4  As I was in the days of my youth, when the secret of God was upon my tabernacle;
Job 29:5  When the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were about me;
Job 29:6  When I washed my steps with butter, and the rock poured me out rivers of oil;
Job 29:7  When I went out to the gate through the city, when I prepared my seat in the street!
Job 29:8  The young men saw me, and hid themselves: and the aged arose, and stood up.
Job 29:9  The princes refrained talking, and laid their hand on their mouth.
Job 29:10  The nobles held their peace, and their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth.
Job 29:11  When the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me:
Job 29:12  Because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him.
Job 29:13  The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me: and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.
Job 29:14  I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: my judgment was as a robe and a diadem.
Job 29:15  I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame.
Job 29:16  I was a father to the poor: and the cause which I knew not I searched out.
Job 29:17  And I brake the jaws of the wicked, and plucked the spoil out of his teeth.
Job 29:18  Then I said, I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the sand.
Job 29:19  My root was spread out by the waters, and the dew lay all night upon my branch.
Job 29:20  My glory was fresh in me, and my bow was renewed in my hand.
Job 29:21  Unto me men gave ear, and waited, and kept silence at my counsel.
Job 29:22  After my words they spake not again; and my speech dropped upon them.
Job 29:23  And they waited for me as for the rain; and they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain.
Job 29:24  If I laughed on them, they believed it not; and the light of my countenance they cast not down.
Job 29:25  I chose out their way, and sat chief, and dwelt as a king in the army, as one that comforteth the mourners.

This 29^th chapter of Job describes us when we believe in the false doctrine of free will. We claim that we believe God is sovereign, but we go on to take credit for all He does with us.

Two chapters earlier Job had already made clear to his three friends and to the Lord just how much he thought of Himself:

Job 27:4  My lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit.
Job 27:5  God forbid that I should justify you: till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me.
Job 27:6  My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.
Job 27:7  Let mine enemy be as the wicked, and he that riseth up against me as the unrighteous.

Those are all the words of a spiritual drunk who is abusing the words of the Lord to make them glorify himself instead of his Creator. At this stage of our “experience of evil” (Ecc 1:13) we are worshiping and serving ourselves instead of our Creator, who has made us to be what we are:

Ecc 1:13 I applied my heart to inquiring and exploring by wisdom concerning all that is done under the heavens: it is an experience of evil Elohim has given to the sons of humanity to humble them by it. (CLV)

Rom 1:25  Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.

When we twist and “wrest” the Lord’s words to make them say “smooth things”, things which we want to hear, when we avoid and omit all His judgments, then we are spiritual drunkards who are abusing the word of God just as surely as a physical and literal wino abuses and is made drunk with wine:

Pro 26:9  As a thorn goeth up into the hand of a drunkard, so is a parable in the mouth of fools.

Isa 30:10  Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:
Isa 30:11  Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.

Isa 30:8  Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever:
Isa 30:9  That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD:

Isa 24:20  The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.

A drunkard is so detached from reality that he does not feel the pain of a thorn in his hand. In the same way he cannot discern the Lord’s wrath against his sinful ways. He may be numb to the pain, but the thorn has still pierced him.

Isa 42:23  Who among you will give ear to this? who will hearken and hear for the time to come?
Isa 42:24  Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? did not the LORD, he against whom we have sinned? for they would not walk in his ways, neither were they obedient unto his law.
Isa 42:25  Therefore he hath poured upon him the fury of his anger, and the strength of battle: and it hath set him on fire round about, yet he knew not; and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart.

1Co 5:11  But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.

Our drunkenness is a condition which the Lord places upon us when we abuse the gift of His ‘wine’. In the scriptures ‘wine’ typifies “His Word”:

Hos 2:9  Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and will recover my wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness.

In the New Testament “[the Lord’s] wine” is called ‘[His] blood in the New Testament’:

Luk 22:20  Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.

Christ also tells us that He will not drink of the cup until He does so “new with you” in His kingdom:

Mat 26:29  But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.

He tells us that this kingdom of heaven “is within [us]” (Luk 17:20-21).

That inward kingdom arrived on this earth in down-payment “earnest” form on the day of Pentecost as recorded in Acts 2:

Luk 17:20  And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
Luk 17:21  Neither shall they say, Lo here! Or, lo there! For, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

Act 2:1  And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
Act 2:2  And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
Act 2:3  And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
Act 2:4  And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

So, we are all first spiritual drunkards before the kingdom of God comes to dwell within us. It is then that we ‘drink His wine new with Him in His kingdom within us’ and are no longer drunkards:

Act 2:15  For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.

Yes, these verses of Jeremiah 13 do indeed tell us that “We have sinned [and we are] evil people, which refuse to hear [the Lord’s] words, who walk in the imagination of [our] heart and walk after other gods, to serve them, and to worship them”, but nowhere is our hardened heart or our errors attributed to us. Nowhere in scripture is any of this ever once attributed to our own will. Plural pronouns like ‘they’, ‘them’, and ‘their’, simply reveal who is performing an action. They do not reveal why ‘they’ do what ‘they’ do. The story of Joseph and the evil done to him by his ten brothers reveals why Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, why Cain killed Abel and why we all do things we don’t want to do. Here is that revelation:

Gen 45:4  And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt.
Gen 45:5  Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.
Gen 45:6  For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest.
Gen 45:7  And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
Gen 45:8  So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.

In the same manner we are simply told by the Lord, here in Jeremiah that we are evil, we walk after the imagination of our own hearts, we walk after other gods to serve and worship them, and we are told that we are as this filthy, rotting, linen girdle, which is profitable for nothing. We are even told that our lives, including ‘erring from his ways and having a hardened heart’, are all “His workmanship” and not our own:

Isa 63:17  O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear?  Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.

When we finally do “return” it is once again a work He performs within us.

Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9  Not of [our] works, lest any man should boast.
Eph 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

We are not the work of our own hands, and we certainly are not the result of our own fabled free will:

Rom 9:15  For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
Rom 9:16  So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
Rom 9:17  For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
Rom 9:18  Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
Rom 9:19  Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?

The answer to that question is found in:

2Ch 20:5  And Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the LORD, before the new court,
2Ch 20:6  And said, O LORD God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? And rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? And in thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee?

The Lord wants us to know beyond any shadow of a doubt He is in charge of all things, and He has declared, “Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.” He also wants us to understand that these corruptible bodies will be replaced with new incorruptible spiritual bodies:

1Co 15:44  It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
1Co 15:45  And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
1Co 15:46  Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
1Co 15:47  The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.
1Co 15:48  As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
1Co 15:49  And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
1Co 15:50  Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

This brings us to our last verse in this study:

Jer 13:14  And I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together, saith the LORD: I will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, but destroy them.

These words are part of the foundation for this prophecy of our Lord:

Mat 10:34  Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.
Mat 10:35  For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
Mat 10:36  And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.
Mat 10:37  He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
Mat 10:38  And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.
Mat 10:39  He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

That is the meaning of “dashing one against another… the father and the son together.”

When we read “I will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, but destroy them” we must bear in mind that all plural pronouns must be applied personally if we are to benefit from the words of scripture. It is my own old man the Lord is intent upon destroying and replacing with a new incorruptible “spiritual body” and granting to be a king and a priest who will reign with Christ a thousand years before judging angels and all men of all time in the lake of fire:

Rev 20:4  And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Rev 20:5  But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

That is our study for today, and here are our verses for next week:

Jer 13:15  Hear ye, and give ear; be not proud: for the LORD hath spoken.
Jer 13:16  Give glory to the LORD your God, before he cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and, while ye look for light, he turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness.
Jer 13:17  But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride; and mine eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears, because the LORD’S flock is carried away captive.
Jer 13:18  Say unto the king and to the queen, Humble yourselves, sit down: for your principalities shall come down, even the crown of your glory.
Jer 13:19  The cities of the south shall be shut up, and none shall open them: Judah shall be carried away captive all of it, it shall be wholly carried away captive.
Jer 13:20  Lift up your eyes, and behold them that come from the north: where is the flock that was given thee, thy beautiful flock?
Jer 13:21  What wilt thou say when he shall punish thee? for thou hast taught them to be captains, and as chief over thee: shall not sorrows take thee, as a woman in travail?
Jer 13:22  And if thou say in thine heart, Wherefore come these things upon me? For the greatness of thine iniquity are thy skirts discovered, and thy heels made bare.
Jer 13:23  Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.
Jer 13:24  Therefore will I scatter them as the stubble that passeth away by the wind of the wilderness.
Jer 13:25  This is thy lot, the portion of thy measures from me, saith the LORD; because thou hast forgotten me, and trusted in falsehood.
Jer 13:26  Therefore will I discover thy skirts upon thy face, that thy shame may appear.
Jer 13:27  I have seen thine adulteries, and thy neighings, the lewdness of thy whoredom, and thine abominations on the hills in the fields. Woe unto thee, O Jerusalem! wilt thou not be made clean? when shall it once be?