Jer 16:13-21  I Will Send for Many Fishers…First I Will Recompense Their Iniquity Double

[Study Aired August 29, 2021]

Jer 16:13  Therefore will I cast you out of this land into a land that ye know not, neither ye nor your fathers; and there shall ye serve other gods day and night; where I will not shew you favour.
Jer 16:14  Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall no more be said, The LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;
Jer 16:15  But, The LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers.
Jer 16:16  Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the LORD, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.
Jer 16:17  For mine eyes are upon all their ways: they are not hid from my face, neither is their iniquity hid from mine eyes.
Jer 16:18  And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double; because they have defiled my land, they have filled mine inheritance with the carcases of their detestable and abominable things.
Jer 16:19  O LORD, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit.
Jer 16:20  Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no gods?
Jer 16:21  Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know mine hand and my might; and they shall know that my name is The LORD.

When the Lord begins to heal our spiritually blind eyes, we begin to understand that He is working every [little detail] after the counsel of His own will (Eph 1:11). In time the Lord opens our eyes to see that He had every day of our lives written in His book before the world began (Psa 139:16, 2Ti 1:9, Tit 1:2). Then we begin to see that every little detail of the work He is doing is for our good in this present time (Rom 8:18), and in the end, for the good of all men of all time (Rom 8:28, 11:31).

Now let’s take note of these words of our Lord:

Joh 15:14  Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
Joh 15:15  Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.

The two phrases, “I have heard… [and] I have made known…” are both in the aorist tense, which means the Lord is continuing to make known to us all He has heard of His Father. Nowhere in scripture does Christ ever tell us that His Father has given us to know the dates He has determined for the things He is doing with mankind, but He certainly has given His elect to know the timing of “all things [He] has heard of [His] Father”. Christ’s Father has revealed to Him the order in which every step of His plan to save all men will take place. For that reason, we must pay attention to qualifying words like ‘first, second, last, before, after, when and then’. If we are sent an evil spirit which tells us that which is ‘before’ is ‘after’, that ‘second’ or ‘last’ is ‘first’, then we will be “led astray by the error of the wicked”:

2Pe 3:17  Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.
2Pe 3:18  But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.

Our study begins with the word… “therefore”, meaning ‘for this reason’. “Therefore” we need to remember what we covered in the first twelve verses of this chapter.

I will repeat the verses which give us the essence of our last study:

Jer 16:2  Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have sons or daughters in this place.
Jer 16:3  For thus saith the LORD concerning the sons and concerning the daughters that are born in this place, and concerning their mothers that bare them, and concerning their fathers that begat them in this land;
Jer 16:4  They shall die of grievous deaths; they shall not be lamented; neither shall they be buried; but they shall be as dung upon the face of the earth: and they shall be consumed by the sword, and by famine; and their carcases shall be meat for the fowls of heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.

As is the case with every commandment the Lord gives us, He gives us His commandments because He knows we will just naturally, by His own design, do the exact opposite. We could take every single one of the ten commandments and demonstrate that our natural inclination is to do the exact opposite of every one of them. No child ever yet had to be taught to lie, cheat, steal or hate. These things are simply “in [our] members” at birth.

Rom 7:18  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
Rom 7:19  For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Rom 7:20  Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:21  I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
Rom 7:22  For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
Rom 7:23  But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
Rom 7:24  O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Rom 7:25  I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

The Lord is the “one [and only] lawgiver”, which includes “the law of sin which is in [our] members”:

Jas 4:12  There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?

This “law of sin” which the Lord has placed “in [our] members” gives Him the occasion He is seeking to humble and destroy the kingdom of our old man:

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.

There is an order in which everything the Lord does must happen. We must have “an experience of evil” before the Lord can have the occasion He is seeking to humble and destroy the kingdom of our old man.

What all of this is telling us is “I will send many fishers [of men… but] first I will recompence [your] iniquity double”.

Jer 16:13  Therefore will I cast you out of this land into a land that ye know not, neither ye nor your fathers; and there shall ye serve other gods day and night; where I will not shew you favour.

“I will cast you… into a land… where I will not show you favor” has nothing to do with physical prosperity. The Lord’s ‘favor’ refers to His ‘chastening grace’. It in no way relates to physical wealth. A physically poor man can be found in the Lord’s favor, and a physically rich man can be without the Lord’s favor, as the parable of Lazarus and the rich man demonstrates:

Luk 16:23  And in hell he [the rich man] lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.

Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

Lazarus was favored and “chastened and scourged” in this life, and was “received” of the Lord, while the rich man was rejected and condemned to the resurrection of “damnation”, better translated as “the resurrection of judgment” at the great white throne/lake of fire/second death.

Joh 5:28  Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
Joh 5:29  And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life [at the “first resurrection” (Rev 20:6)]; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation [over a thousand years later (Rev 20:7-15)].

It is because the chastening grace of the Lord’s favor is not yet upon our lives that we must be carried away into Babylon.

Jer 16:14  Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall no more be said, The LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;
Jer 16:15  But, The LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers.

This is the New Testament version of this verse:

2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2Th 2:4  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

Every self-righteous person “exalts himself… so that he sits as God, showing himself that he is God”.

Jer 16:16 Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the LORD, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.
Jer 16:17  For mine eyes are upon all their ways: they are not hid from my face, neither is their iniquity hid from mine eyes.
Jer 16:18  And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double; because they have defiled my land, they have filled mine inheritance with the carcases of their detestable and abominable things.

Paul was inspired to speak of this judgment in these words, but it is the very same message:

2Th 2:6 And now ye know what withholdeth [Greek, restrains] that he might be revealed in his time.
2Th 2:7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth [Same Greek word translated ‘withholdeth’ in verse 6] will let, until he be taken out of the way.
2Th 2:8 And then [through judgment] shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

That is just another way of saying, “And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double; because they have defiled my land, they have filled mine inheritance with the carcases of their detestable and abominable things.”

There is a revelation for us in the words, “the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be said, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; but the Lord liveth that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither He had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers.” The revelation in those words is that Egypt and “the furnace of iron” are earlier parts of our “experience of evil” which must precede our time spent warring against the giants in our land. It also reveals that we must begin fighting our lusts and passions before we are carried away into “the land of the north”, which signifies the beginning of our judgment and the beginning of our exodus from Babylon, “the north country”:

1Pe 4:16  Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.
1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

It is the Lord’s “very elect” who “come out of her… from the north country”.

This principle is repeated in:

Hos 11:5  He shall not return into the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian shall be his king, because they refused to return.

Assyria is “the land of the north”, and Babylon and Assyria are one and the same people. As Egypt symbolizes the world, Babylon symbolizes a much later experience in which the Lord’s apostate people, who after having come out of the world and overcoming so much, have yet been seduced by those religions of Assyria and Babylon and have committed spiritual fornication and spiritual adultery against the Lord.

It is spiritual “Babylon the great… that great city wherein our Lord was crucified” which insisted on that crucifixion.

On the other hand, Egypt symbolizes an earlier part of our experience of evil, and is referred to as “the iron furnace”:

Deu 4:19  And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars,  even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven.
Deu 4:20  But the LORD hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day.

We are made to know that the Lord does not send “fishers [and] hunters” to drag us to himself from “the iron furnace”. Rather He sends ‘fishers and hunters’ only after we have apostatized from knowing Him and have been carried away captives into “the land of the north”, into Babylon.

Jer 16:16  Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the LORD, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.

Here is the New Testament version of this verse:

Luk 15:4  What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? [“fishes… hunts”]
Luk 15:5  And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
Luk 15:6  And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.
Luk 15:7  I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.

That is the positive application of these words of Job:

Job 23:13  But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even  that he doeth.
Job 23:14  For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me: and many such things are with him.

Thanks be to the Lord that our salvation does not depend upon us… “For he performeth the thing that is  appointed for me”.

Notice and believe the words, “and first…”.

Jer 16:18  And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double; because they have defiled my land, they have filled mine inheritance with the carcases of their detestable and abominable things.

Here is another way of expressing the message of this 18^th verse of Jeremiah 16:

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.

Iniquity is self-righteousness (Eze 33:13). We are self-righteous by nature, but we get a double portion of self-righteousness after we are carried away captive to Babylon, the great harlot.

Eze 33:13  When I shall say to the righteous, that he shall surely live; if he trust to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity, all his righteousnesses shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity that he hath committed, he shall die for it.

This is our way of thinking while we are “joined to” that harlot:

Pro 30:20 Such is the way of an adulterous woman; she eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done no wickedness.

Rev 3:17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:

There is “order” to everything the Lord does, and it is He who is doing everything “after the counsel of His own will”.

1Co 14:40  Let all things be done decently and in order.

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:
Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

If we fail to see the order in which He is doing His work, then we can and we will miss the spiritual message He is giving only to those whose “eyes of [their] understanding [are] being enlightened” to see what He clearly tells us is “first” and what is “second” and what is “first” and what is “last”. We will completely overlook the promises that are the exclusive blessing of those “who first trusted in Christ” and who were “blessed [to] have a part in the first resurrection” (Rev 20:6).

1Co 15:23  But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.

Notice how clearly the Lord’s order of events is laid out for us:

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.

Clearly “the first man Adam” must precede “the last Adam”, and “the first man” must precede “the second man”. The “first resurrection”, which takes place at the beginning of the thousand-year reign of “the Lord and His Christ”, must precede the last resurrection, which follows the short season of rebellion at the end of the thousand-year reign:

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.

The eyes of my understanding have been given to see that the Lord’s inheritance is “in His saints” and that His saints rule with Him over the kingdoms of this world.

Rev 11:15  And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.

The eyes of my understanding have been made to know that the thousand years must be “finished… expired” before  Satan is empowered to “go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth…”

Eph 1:18  The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
Eph 1:19  And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,
Eph 1:20  Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
Eph 1:21  Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:

Rev 20:7  And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
Rev 20:8  And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
Rev 20:9  And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
Rev 20:10  And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

At this point, the One who is “working all things after the counsel of His own will” has now put a stop to the process of death. The “fire… from God out of heaven” has now “devoured… the nations in the four quarters of the earth”, and there will be no more flesh to perpetrate death upon mankind. The Lord now has all mankind who were not in the “blessed and holy first resurrection” in a position to be “raised a spiritual body” to be judged with “angels” in the “great white throne… judgment”, which will eventuate in “all…in Adam…be[ing] made alive” at the “great white throne… judgment”.

1Co 6:2  Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? [during the thousand-year reign of “the Lord and His Christ”] and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
1Co 6:3  Know ye not that we shall judge angels? [at the “white throne judgment” which follows the “short season” of rebellion which occurs only “when the thousand years are expired”] how much more things that pertain to this life?

1Co 15:22  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

The “great white throne… judgment” is exactly what the very next verse of Revelation 20 reveals:

Rev 20:11  And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the [first] earth and the [first] heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
Rev 20:12  And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
Rev 20:13  And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
Rev 20:14  And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
Rev 20:15  And whosoever was not found written in the book of life [over a thousand years earlier] was cast into the lake of fire.

Christianity teaches that verse 15 is the end of the line for any whose names are not in the book of life. They believe the book of life is opened here at the white throne judgment. After all, verse 12 does say “…and another book was opened, which is the book of life”. However, where is the qualification which tells us that anyone whose name is in the book of life is raised up at the white throne judgment? The answer is that there is no such statement in scripture, whereas we are very clearly told that there are just two resurrections. The first one Christ mentions is “the resurrection of life”, and the second and last resurrection is called “the resurrection of damnation”, which is much better translated as ‘the resurrection of judgment’, because the word translated ‘damnation’ is the Greek word ‘krisis’, which means ‘judgment’.

Joh 5:28  Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
Joh 5:29  And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life [the first resurrection]; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation [resurrection of judgment].

Just as in Revelation 20:15 where we are told of “the books were opened… and another book was opened which is the book of life…” the timing of these two resurrections, “the resurrection to life [and] the resurrection to damnation [judgment]” is not under consideration here in John 5.  All we are being told is “the hour is coming, in which all that are in their graves shall hear His voice and shall come forth”.  There is no mention at this point of a “blessed and holy… first resurrection”, nor is there any mention of a “great white throne… when the thousand years are expired”. Taken alone, these verses in John 5 would lead us to believe that the resurrection of “they that have done good” and “they that have done evil” both take place at the same time. Let’s take notice of how similar the wording about these two resurrections is to the discussion of “the books… and another book, which is the book of life” in Revelation 20.

In John 5, we are looking forward to the resurrection of “all that are in their graves” with no regard to the clearly revealed fact that there are two resurrections which are divided by “a thousand years” plus a “short season” when Satan is released from prison and deceives the whole world.

By contrast, in Revelation 20 we are looking back to the opening of “the book of life [at] the resurrection of life” with no mention of the fact that this very same 20^th chapter reveals that the opening of “the book of life” had taken place “a thousand years [plus] a short season” earlier.

I take the time to discuss all of this just so we get the full impact of our study today which reveals that the Lord will “send fishers” to save His people, His “very elect”, whose names are written in “the book of life… but first [He] will recompense their iniquity double”.

This is just another way of saying that God’s elect must be the first to be judged, which is exactly what we are told in:

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

It behooves us to know that our judgment in being the first to be judged, does not exclude us from being “recompensed [our] iniquity double”. We must understand that it is that ‘recompensed double’ which constitutes “the judgment [which] must… first begin… at the house of God”. It is important we notice that the Lord places this ‘double recompense’ in that part of our ‘experience of evil’ which follows, and it comes after the time of our battles with the giants in our land.

We really are given to make great strides at subduing and overcoming many of our passions, our addictions, and our lack of patience with others while in the land of promise. These victories are given to us only after we are brought up out of Egypt and after we enter the land of promise. Nevertheless, it is while we are still fighting and overcoming the giants in our land that we are also given to take the credit for our victories over these ‘giants’ within, and we commit iniquity and become self-righteous. Of course, it was the Lord who gave us every victory we experience, but we are just like King Hezekiah when the Lord slew a hundred and eighty-five thousand Assyrian soldiers in one night.

2Ki 19:35  And it came to pass that night, that  the angel of the LORD went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.

2Ch 32:22  Thus the LORD saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria, and from the hand of all other, and guided them on every side.
2Ch 32:23  And many brought gifts unto the LORD to Jerusalem, and presents to Hezekiah king of Judah: so that he [Hezekiah] was magnified in the sight of all nations from thenceforth.
2Ch 32:24  In those days Hezekiah was sick to the death, and prayed unto the LORD: and he spake unto him, and he gave him a sign.

All the nations around King Hezekiah gave him the credit for that victory, and King Hezekiah took that honor to himself and did not acknowledge the Lord as having fought that battle for him.

The Lord knows that our recognizing His hand in all that happens, good and evil, is for our own spiritual health. To do otherwise would be to perpetrate a lie, and the Lord will have none of that. He will see to it that we recognize Him in all things:

Psa 50:14  Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High:
Psa 50:15  And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.

The Lord does not need our praise, but we do need Him, and we do need to know the Truth, which is the very definition of life eternal:

Joh 17:3  And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

Joh 14:6  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Jesus Christ “is… the Truth”. Therefore, we will do well to pay very close attention when He speaks. If He tells us ‘that which is natural precedes that which is spiritual’, then we truly need to remember and believe those words. If He tells us the first resurrection occurs before the thousand-year reign, and that those in that resurrection rule with Him over the kingdoms of this world during His thousand-year reign, we need to believe that is the order in which those things will occur. If He tells us that a rebellion against His government will occur “when the thousand years are expired”, we dare not say otherwise. If we are told in such clear words that a great white throne judgment follows the rebellion which takes place “when the thousand years are expired”, then we should know for certain the order in which all these things will occur. We are not given the time and dates for any of these events, but we are definitely made to know the order in which all these things will occur.

Mat 24:36  But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.

Luke emphasizes the fact that “My Father only… knows the day and hour” of Christ’s appearing, both within and outwardly.

Mar 13:32  But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven,  neither the Son, but the Father.

If we ignore the fact that the scriptures plainly state “that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual”, then we can, and we will, completely miss the spiritual message which gives us the Lord’s order of events, and we will be confused and deceived by the adversary, which is what the Lord has given to “our fathers”:

Jer 16:19  O LORD, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit.

“Our father” is the “father of liars” and all who believe those lies. So “our fathers” includes our own deceived, rebellious old man with all his lies, vanity, and “things wherein there is no profit”.

Jer 16:20  Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no gods?

It is the fact that we have all done just that, which necessitates the Lord to ‘first recompense our iniquity and our sins double:

Jer 16:18  And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double; because they have defiled my land, they have filled mine inheritance with the carcases of their detestable and abominable things.

Only after the chastening of the seven last plagues upon all the false doctrines of Babylon within us and upon all our self-righteous iniquities, are we given this wonderful assurance:

Jer 16:21  Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know mine hand and my might; and they shall know that my name is The LORD.

That is our study for this week, and these are our verses for our next study where we will learn more about our old man and his dire need of the Lord’s judgments:

Jer 17:1  The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond: it is graven upon the table of their heart, and upon the horns of your altars;
Jer 17:2  Whilst their children remember their altars and their groves by the green trees upon the high hills.
Jer 17:3  O my mountain in the field, I will give thy substance and all thy treasures to the spoil, and thy high places for sin, throughout all thy borders.
Jer 17:4  And thou, even thyself, shalt discontinue from thine heritage that I gave thee; and I will cause thee to serve thine enemies in the land which thou knowest not: for ye have kindled a fire in mine anger, which shall burn for ever.
Jer 17:5  Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD.
Jer 17:6  For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.
Jer 17:7  Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.
Jer 17:8  For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.
Jer 17:9  The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
Jer 17:10  I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.
Jer 17:11  As the partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not; so he that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool.
Jer 17:12  A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary.
Jer 17:13  O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters.

[Next study in this series is here.]