Jer 4:10-20 Your Way and Your Doings Have Procured These Things Unto Thee

[Study Aired February 28, 2021]

Jer 4:10  Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! surely thou hast greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall have peace; whereas the sword reacheth unto the soul.
Jer 4:11  At that time shall it be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A dry wind of the high places in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people, not to fan, nor to cleanse,
Jer 4:12  Even a full wind from those places shall come unto me: now also will I give sentence against them.
Jer 4:13  Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots shall be as a whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe unto us! for we are spoiled.
Jer 4:14  O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?
Jer 4:15  For a voice declareth from Dan, and publisheth affliction from mount Ephraim.
Jer 4:16  Make ye mention to the nations; behold, publish against Jerusalem, that watchers come from a far country, and give out their voice against the cities of Judah.
Jer 4:17  As keepers of a field, are they against her round about; because she hath been rebellious against me, saith the LORD.
Jer 4:18  Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee; this is thy wickedness, because it is bitter, because it reacheth unto thine heart.
Jer 4:19  My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.
Jer 4:20  Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is spoiled: suddenly are my tents spoiled, and my curtains in a moment.

Our first verse refers to what the Lord said earlier in this chapter:

Jer 4:1  If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the LORD, return unto me: and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight, then shalt thou not remove.
Jer 4:2  And thou shalt swear, The LORD liveth, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory.
Jer 4:3  For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.
Jer 4:4  Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.

As we pointed out earlier, these words alone would lead us to believe that if we repent, then we can avoid being judged for our sins. However, ‘the sum of the Lord’s words’ (Psa 119:160 ASV, ESV, etc.) reveals otherwise, and the prophet goes on to reveal that judgment is already on the way:

Jer 4:6  Set up the standard toward Zion: retire, stay not: for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction.
Jer 4:7  The lion is come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way; he is gone forth from his place to make thy land desolate; and thy cities shall be laid waste, without an inhabitant.
Jer 4:8  For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and howl: for the fierce anger of the LORD is not turned back from us.

The sum of the Lord’s Words reveals that as surely as the Lord has ordained that all men must first be made of corruptible dust and clay, He has also ordained that judgment for our corruption must precede our deliverance from these sinful dying bodies. That is what is meant by these very general words which speak to “every man” who has ever or will ever live:

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.

We are not at first given to see “the sum” of the Lord’s Word, and thereby the Lord Himself first deceives us, makes us all wicked men for our own ‘day of evil’, and hardens our hearts and makes us to err from His ways:

Eze 14:9  And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.
Eze 14:10  And they shall bear the punishment [judgment] of their iniquity: the punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeketh unto him;

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

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.

To our flesh these words are as repugnant as anything can get. We just naturally ask, “Why have you made me thus?” In doing so, we are contending with God.

Rom 9:19  Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
Rom 9:20  Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?

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

Jeremiah was as perplexed as any man and tells the Lord:

Jer 4:10  Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! surely thou hast greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall have peace; whereas the sword reacheth unto the soul.

We cannot help but ask, “Why have you made me thus? Why have you made me wicked for my own day of evil, and then lead me to believe that all I must do is repent, and you will not judge me? Then You send a sword that reaches to the soul?”

In being deceived by the Lord, we are totally unaware that by questioning the Lord we are self-righteously ‘contending with and reproving’ our own Lord. We are disannulling His judgment and condemning our own Maker to make ourselves righteous’:

Job 40:1  Moreover the LORD answered Job, and said,
Job 40:2  Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproveth God, let him answer it.
Job 40:3  Then Job answered the LORD, and said,
Job 40:4  Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.
Job 40:5  Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice; but I will proceed no further.
Job 40:6  Then answered the LORD unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
Job 40:7  Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.
Job 40:8  Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?

The entire book of Job deals with the Lord’s judgment of Job’s insidious sin of self-righteousness, and it is a fiery judgment indeed. However, if the Lord loves us above all others in “this present time” (Rom 8:18), then He will judge us first with His fiery judgments with the promise of a glory to follow which will make our suffering in this time unworthy to be compared to that impending glory.

Jer 4:11  At that time shall it be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A dry wind of the high places in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people, not to fan, nor to cleanse,
Jer 4:12  Even a full wind from those places shall come unto me: now also will I give sentence against them.
Jer 4:13  Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots shall be as a whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe unto us! for we are spoiled.

“At that time” refers to this previous verse:

Jer 4:7   The lion is come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way; he is gone forth from his place to make thy land desolate; and thy cities shall be laid waste, without an inhabitant.

“A dry wind” is an unprofitable, destructive ‘wind’ akin to ‘clouds without water’:

Jud 1:12   These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;

A “dry wind” withers everything and produces “a famine of the Word”:

Amo 8:11   Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD:

This ‘famine’ has long been upon all of Babylon, yet the Lord uses this ‘famine’ to try “the daughter of My people”. This is all a prophecy of the coming of Nebuchadnezzar to carry the Lord’s people off into Babylonian captivity where the whole stay of bread and the whole stay of water is taken away from Judah and Jerusalem:

Isa 3:1  For, behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water,

“Not to fan or to cleanse” was understood by all to mean ‘not to blow away and cleanse away the chaff’ when the wheat or barley are being processed. This ‘wind’ is not being sent from the Lord for that purpose. The ‘fanning and cleansing’ will now be accomplished only through a fiery experience of being carried away into the bondage of Babylon, where we will spend a symbolic “seventy years” serving our Babylonian masters:

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 completes the time of our total deception. After a symbolic ‘seventy years’ we begin to be given eyes that see and ears that hear the things of the spirit.

“This wind”, this evil ‘ruach’ (spirit), refers outwardly to Nebuchadnezzar who is called a destroying lion in this verse:

Jer 4:7   The lion is come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way; he is gone forth from his place to make thy land desolate; and thy cities shall be laid waste, without an inhabitant.

Inwardly this ‘wind’ which destroys our cities and our land and our entire kingdom, typifies the many false doctrines which we have formulated from our youth. They are who we are. Our doctrines are our children. They make up our cities and our villages and become our whole land. Every one of them must be destroyed and burned up by the word of God in the mouths of His prophets:

Jer 5:14  Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.

It is “written in [our] book” to be spoiled by Babylon for a symbolic seventy years. It is “seventy years” because ‘seven’ signifies ‘completion’, and its multiple, ten times seven, simply intensifies the message of the necessity of enduring the Lord’s fiery judgments right down to the last dregs of the seven bowls which “fill up the wrath of God” upon the kingdom of our rebellious old man. That ‘fiery judgment’ is the invincible Word of God which is in the process of judging the works of every man of what sort they are:

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.

Rev 15:1  And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.
Rev 15:2   And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.
Rev 15:3   And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.
Rev 15:4   Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.
Rev 15:5   And after that I looked, and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened: [His “judgments are made manifest”]
Rev 15:6   And the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles.
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.

Jeremiah and all the prophets of Israel typify and foreshadow both this ‘beast’ who gives the seven angels the seven bowls of the Lord’s wrath, as well as the seven angels themselves. Both are types of you and me if we are His redeemed in this present time. Just look at what both symbols reveal about themselves and about who it is they symbolize:

Rev 5:8   And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.
Rev 5:9  And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;
Rev 5:10   And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

These four beasts represent the Lord’s redeemed who will reign with Him a thousand years prior to the rebellion which precedes “the resurrection of judgment… the great white throne… judgment”.

Joh 5:27   And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.
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; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation [Greek: ‘krisis’, judgment, the great white throne judgment (Rev 20:11)].

The seven angels also tell us who they symbolize:

Rev 17:1   And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:

Rev 19:9   And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.
Rev 19:10   And I fell at his feet to worship him [“The angel that showed (John) these things” (Rev 22:8)]. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

Lest we fail to believe what we have read here, it is repeated for us in:

Rev 22:8  And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things.
Rev 22:9   Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.

The Lord’s call for our repentance does not nullify His justice or His judgments. “The fire shall [still] try every man’s works” (1Co 3:13), and “no man can enter the temple till the seven plagues [of the wrath of God] of the seven angels is fulfilled” (Rev 15:17).

As Jeremiah said earlier:

Jer 2:22   For though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord GOD. [Until the seven plagues of the seven angels us fulfilled in our lives].

The judgments pronounced by the Lord’s prophets must be fulfilled in the lives of every man who is blessed to enter the temple of God. It is only through the pain which the Lord’s words inflict upon the kingdom of our old man, signified by the word ‘fire’, that any of us come to know our God who “is a consuming fire”:

Heb 12:27  And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken [the things of the spirit of God] may remain.
Heb 12:28  Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
Heb 12:29  For our God is a consuming fire.

It is through His fiery words that He pleads with us as His children whom He loves:

Jer 4:14  O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?

Our “vain thoughts lodge with [us]… till the seven plagues of the seven angels have been fulfilled”:

Jer 4:15  For a voice declareth from Dan, and publisheth affliction from mount Ephraim.
Jer 4:16  Make ye mention to the nations; behold, publish against Jerusalem, that watchers come from a far country, and give out their voice against the cities of Judah.

This may sound like Nebuchadnezzar has sent Rabshakeh to tell us to surrender to him (2Ki 18:28-32), but the phrase “far country” is also used to indicate the heavens from which the Lord speaks through His prophets:

Mat 25:14   For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.

Luk 19:12   He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return.

This same message of judgment “against Jerusalem” is found in the New Testament:

1Pe 4:12   Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:

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?

Jer 2:22   For though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord GOD. [Until the seven plagues of the seven angels us fulfilled in our lives].

1 Peter 4:12 and Jeremiah 2:22 inform us of our imminent unavoidable judgment:

Jer 4:17   As keepers of a field, are they against her round about; because she hath been rebellious against me, saith the LORD.
Jer 4:18   Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee; this is thy wickedness, because it is bitter, because it reacheth unto thine heart.

These words are common to all men of all time. The wickedness of every man “is bitter, because it reaches unto [our] heart”. Corruption is our very DNA:

Jer 4:4  Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.

1Co 15:50   Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption [flesh and blood] inherit incorruption.

The following three sins are common to all men and there is no one, other than Christ, who has not succumbed to these three sins:

1Jn 2:16   For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

The only difference between the Lord’s Israel, His Judah and Jerusalem, and all the rest of mankind is “the time has come that judgment must begin at the house of God” (1Pe 4:17). That judgment is indeed a fiery judgment which is so severe that it makes us cry out:

Jer 4:19   My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.
Jer 4:20   Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is spoiled: suddenly are my tents spoiled, and my curtains in a moment.

Our wicked, bitter ways and doings are the work of our flesh, which is a work of our Lord. The sound of the trumpet that makes us afraid of the impending war we are facing is also “of the Lord”:

Amo 3:6   Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?

Jeremiah 4:19-20 are addressed to the Lord’s harlot wife, Judah and Jerusalem:

Isa 1:21   How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.

Here is the New Testament version of these two verses:

Rev 18:1  And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.
Rev 18:2   And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.
Rev 18:3   For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.
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.
Rev 18:5   For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.
Rev 18:6   Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.
Rev 18:7   How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.
Rev 18:8   Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.
Rev 18:9  And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning,
Rev 18:10   Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.

The destruction of this great harlot is first accomplished within us. “[This] is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God and who have the faith of Jesus” (Rev 14:8-12).

Isa 1:21   How is the faithful city become an harlot! It was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.

Then we are told what her destruction is inwardly within us back in Revelation 14:

Rev 14:8  And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
Rev 14:9   And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
Rev 14:10   The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
Rev 14:11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. [What does this accomplish?]
Rev 14:12  Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

There is much more to be revealed here in the prophecy of Jeremiah about our judgment in this present time. The Truth is that we just naturally do not have any faith of our own in the Lord, and we certainly do not want to hear what is facing us in our certain judgment. This instead is our natural response when anyone begins to tell us where our ways are leading 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 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.

Those verses are speaking of each of us. We ask the Lord what we should do. We have seen it time and again when we are asked, “What does the Lord say?” Then the person asking rejects what the Lord reveals to be His mind on the question at hand. The reason is always the same. We want the Lord’s name, but we do not want to eat His food or wear His apparel:

Isa 4:1   And in that day seven women 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.

That is the same as telling the Lord, “I want to be associated with your powerful name, but don’t think for one moment that I am willing to give up my own will or my own opinions and doctrines just because a few of the Lord’s counselors agree together that what I think or what I have said is wrong.” It is the same we have witnessed time after time. An individual or a group of individuals comes to the elders in the Lord’s body, seeking their input, and then they ignore the counsel they sought and do the exact opposite. We want to have the Lord’s name, but we have no use for His righteousness, His apparel, or for His food… His doctrines and His way of thinking.

Jeremiah had this very experience when Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem and let Jeremiah and a remnant of the Jews remain in Judah. Nebuchadnezzar placed a man named Gedaliah as governor over those who were left in Judah (Jer 40:5). Another man named Ishmael, who was of royal descent, was sent by the king of Ammon to kill Gedaliah. Gedaliah was informed of this plot by a man named Johanan who had learned of this plot and warned Gedaliah that the king of Amon had plotted with Ishmael to take his life. The governor, Gedelaliah, ignored Johanan’s warning, and he lost his life at the hand of Ishmael. Ishmael then killed all the men at the governor’s house and took the women and children to return to Amon, before the Babylonians returned to settle the score.

Word immediately got to Johanan and his men about what Ishmael had done, and Johanan and his men rescued those who were kidnapped and brought them back to a place called Chimham near Bethlehem. They went there in preparation of fleeing into Egypt for fear of a Babylonian reprisal for what Ishmael had done:

Jer 41:15  But Ishmael the son of Nethaniah escaped from Johanan with eight men, and went to the Ammonites.
Jer 41:16  Then took Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were with him, all the remnant of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, from Mizpah, after that he had slain Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, even mighty men of war, and the women, and the children, and the eunuchs, whom he had brought again from Gibeon:
Jer 41:17  And they departed, and dwelt in the habitation of Chimham, which is by Bethlehem, to go to enter into Egypt,
Jer 41:18  Because of the Chaldeans: for they were afraid of them, because Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had slain Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon made governor in the land.

Before leaving for Egypt, they actually sought word from the Lord concerning what they should do. The truth was that they had already made up their minds to go to Egypt. This is what is within each of us:

Jer 42:1   Then all the captains of the forces, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least even unto the greatest, came near,
Jer 42:2   And said unto Jeremiah the prophet, Let, we beseech thee, our supplication be accepted before thee, and pray for us unto the LORD thy God, even for all this remnant; (for we are left but a few of many, as thine eyes do behold us)
Jer 42:3   That the LORD thy God may shew us the way wherein we may walk, and the thing that we may do.
Jer 42:4   Then Jeremiah the prophet said unto them, I have heard you; behold, I will pray unto the LORD your God according to your words; and it shall come to pass, that whatsoever thing the LORD shall answer you, I will declare it unto you; I will keep nothing back from you.
Jer 42:5   Then they said to Jeremiah, The LORD be a true and faithful witness between us, if we do not even according to all things for the which the LORD thy God shall send thee to us.
Jer 42:6   Whether it be good, or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God, to whom we send thee; that it may be well with us, when we obey the voice of the LORD our God.
Jer 42:7   And it came to pass after ten days, that the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah.
Jer 42:8   Then called he Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces which were with him, and all the people from the least even to the greatest,
Jer 42:9   And said unto them, Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, unto whom ye sent me to present your supplication before him;
Jer 42:10   If ye will still abide in this land, then will I build you, and not pull you down, and I will plant you, and not pluck you up: for I repent me of the evil that I have done unto you.
Jer 42:11   Be not afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom ye are afraid; be not afraid of him, saith the LORD: for I am with you to save you, and to deliver you from his hand.
Jer 42:12   And I will shew mercies unto you, that he may have mercy upon you, and cause you to return to your own land.
Jer 42:13   But if ye say, We will not dwell in this land, neither obey the voice of the LORD your God,
Jer 42:14   Saying, No; but we will go into the land of Egypt, where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor have hunger of bread; and there will we dwell:
Jer 42:15   And now therefore hear the word of the LORD, ye remnant of Judah; Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; If ye wholly set your faces to enter into Egypt, and go to sojourn there;
Jer 42:16   Then it shall come to pass, that the sword, which ye feared, shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine, whereof ye were afraid, shall follow close after you there in Egypt; and there ye shall die.
Jer 42:17   So shall it be with all the men that set their faces to go into Egypt to sojourn there; they shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: and none of them shall remain or escape from the evil that I will bring upon them.
Jer 42:18   For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; As mine anger and my fury hath been poured forth upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem; so shall my fury be poured forth upon you, when ye shall enter into Egypt: and ye shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach; and ye shall see this place no more.
Jer 42:19   The LORD hath said concerning you, O ye remnant of Judah; Go ye not into Egypt: know certainly that I have admonished you this day.
Jer 42:20   For ye dissembled in your hearts, when ye sent me unto the LORD your God, saying, Pray for us unto the LORD our God; and according unto all that the LORD our God shall say, so declare unto us, and we will do it.
Jer 42:21   And now I have this day declared it to you; but ye have not obeyed the voice of the LORD your God, nor any thing for the which he hath sent me unto you.
Jer 42:22   Now therefore know certainly that ye shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, in the place whither ye desire to go and to sojourn.

This story is telling us what is within us. It is we who seek the mind of the Lord and then spit in His face and disobey His words which He has given us. Here is what the next prophet calls such actions:

Eze 14:1   Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat before me. [Just as with Jeremiah]
Eze 14:2   And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Eze 14:3   Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity [Their own righteousness, their own opinions and doctrines] before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them?
Eze 14:4  Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols; [You want to go to battle against Ramothgilead, go ahead and go to battle (1Kg 22:14-15); You want to go down to Egypt, go down to Egypt (Jer 42:15); You think I am a hard man, then I will show Myself a hard man towards you (Mat 25:26); etc.]
Eze 14:5   That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols.
Eze 14:6   Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations.
Eze 14:7   For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger that sojourneth in Israel, which separateth himself from me, and setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to a prophet to enquire of him concerning me; I the LORD will answer him by myself:
Eze 14:8   And I will set my face against that man, and will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
Eze 14:9   And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.
Eze 14:10   And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity: the punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeketh unto him;
Eze 14:11   That the house of Israel may go no more astray from me, neither be polluted any more with all their transgressions; but that they may be my people, and I may be their God, saith the Lord GOD.
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.

When we become self-righteous and place “[our] own righteousness” and our own doctrines above that which is written, and above the counsel of those whom the Lord has given us as our counselors, then the Lord “will stretch out [His] hand upon [us], and will destroy [us] from the midst of [His] people Israel.”

We are all full of self-righteous iniquity, and we all trust in our own self-righteous iniquity in our own time. Let us all pray that the Lord judges us and destroys our self-righteous old man in “this present time” (Rom 8:18).

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

Jer 4:21   How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet.
Jer 4:22   For my people is foolish, they have not known me; they are sottish children, and they have none understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.
Jer 4:23   I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.
Jer 4:24   I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly.
Jer 4:25   I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled.
Jer 4:26   I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by his fierce anger.
Jer 4:27   For thus hath the LORD said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end.
Jer 4:28   For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black: because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it.
Jer 4:29   The whole city shall flee for the noise of the horsemen and bowmen; they shall go into thickets, and climb up upon the rocks: every city shall be forsaken, and not a man dwell therein.
Jer 4:30   And when thou art spoiled, what wilt thou do? Though thou clothest thyself with crimson, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, though thou rentest thy face with painting, in vain shalt thou make thyself fair; thy lovers will despise thee, they will seek thy life.
Jer 4:31   For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, and the anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, that bewaileth herself, that spreadeth her hands, saying, Woe is me now! for my soul is wearied because of murderers?