Jer 7:18-34 Truth Is Perished

[Study Aired April 25, 2021]

Jer 7:18  The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.
Jer 7:19  Do they provoke me to anger? saith the LORD: do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces?
Jer 7:20  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, mine anger and my fury shall be poured out upon this place, upon man, and upon beast, and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched.
Jer 7:21  Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Put your burnt offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat flesh.
Jer 7:22  For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices:
Jer 7:23  But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.
Jer 7:24  But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.
Jer 7:25  Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day I have even sent unto you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them:
Jer 7:26  Yet they hearkened not unto me, nor inclined their ear, but hardened their neck: they did worse than their fathers.
Jer 7:27  Therefore thou shalt speak all these words unto them; but they will not hearken to thee: thou shalt also call unto them; but they will not answer thee.
Jer 7:28  But thou shalt say unto them, This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the LORD their God, nor receiveth correction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth.
Jer 7:29  Cut off thine hair, O Jerusalem, and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on high places; for the LORD hath rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath.
Jer 7:30  For the children of Judah have done evil in my sight, saith the LORD: they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to pollute it.
Jer 7:31  And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart.
Jer 7:32  Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall no more be called Tophet, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter: for they shall bury in Tophet, till there be no place.
Jer 7:33  And the carcases of this people shall be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth; and none shall fray them away.
Jer 7:34  Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride: for the land shall be desolate.

Many so-called ‘Christian’ churches are now in favor of same sex marriages, abortions, and trans-sexual operations or simply accepting you as a sex which you are not. It was officially announced that a transexual is running as a Republican for governor of California, the most populous state in the United States.

Truly “the truth is perished”, and Christ and His doctrines are now illegal in the entire world.

Old Testament ‘idols’ typify New Testament false doctrines and “idols of the heart” (Eze 14:1-9). It is these ‘idols of the heart’ which have brought this world to be as it is in total rebellion against its own Creator. As we read in our last study, when we have a false doctrine which we cling to at the expense of believing the Truth, we believe that lie only because “I the Lord have deceived that prophet” (Eze 14:9). That is the situation with which we begin our study today:

Jer 7:18  The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.

This is what the vast majority of Christians do every year when they observe pagan holidays and attempt to ‘Christianize’ those pagan traditions, such as Christmas, Easter, and Halloween. No one denies that these holidays are of pagan origin, but they all claim they are keeping them in honor of the Lord’s birth, His death and resurrection or in honor of ‘All saint’s evening’, to which mindset the Lord answers:

Deu 12:29  When the LORD thy God shall cut off the nations from before thee, whither thou goest to possess them, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their land;
Deu 12:30  Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise.
Deu 12:31  Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God: for every abomination to the LORD, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods.
Deu 12:32  What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.

“You shall not do so unto the Lord your God” is telling us plainly, “Don’t keep pagan days and then tell me you are  doing it to Me. Don’t do that!”

Truly “This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the LORD their God, nor receiveth correction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth.”

Jer 7:19  Do they provoke me to anger? saith the LORD: do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces?

“Do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces?” Just look around you and you will see that the government of the United States is so confused that it cannot state for certain that a boy is a boy and a girl is a girl. It doesn’t know that life begins at the beginning of life, and it certainly is not “one nation under God”, whose words are not to be tolerated in the halls of government.

This “experience of evil [and] confusion” is common to all men before we are “once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and [are] made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come” (Heb 6:4-5). Our rejection of our Creator gives Him the “occasion [He is] seeking” against our rebellious flesh, which at the appointed time is given dominion over us:

Jdg 14:4  But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the LORD, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.

The Lord gives us an experience of evil for the specific purpose of humbling us:

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)

We are humbled when the Lord judges us:

Jer 7:20  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, mine anger and my fury shall be poured out upon this place, upon man, and upon beast, and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched.
Jer 7:21  Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Put your burnt offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat flesh.
Jer 7:22  For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices:
Jer 7:23  But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.
Jer 7:24  But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.

The fact that we all at first “listen not, nor incline our ear but walk in the counsels and imagination of [our own] evil heart” gives our Lord the occasion He is seeking to pour out on each of us the “fury [of His] great wrath”:

Jer 21:5  And I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger, and in fury, and in great wrath.

Jer 7:25  Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day I have even sent unto you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them:
Jer 7:26  Yet they hearkened not unto me, nor inclined their ear, but hardened their neck: they did worse than their fathers.

Every generation gets worse and worse:

2Ti 3:12  Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
2Ti 3:13  But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.

This self-willed, self-righteous rebellion against the Lord’s words is the lament of all the prophets, including the prophet Hosea:

Hos 11:1  When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.
Hos 11:2  As they called them, so they went from them: they sacrificed unto Baalim, and burned incense to graven images.
Hos 11:3  I taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by their arms; but they knew not that I healed them.
Hos 11:4  I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love: and I was to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws, and I laid meat unto them.
Hos 11:5. He shall not return into the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian shall be his king, because they refused to return.
Hos 11:6  And the sword shall abide on his cities, and shall consume his branches, and devour them, because of their own counsels.
Hos 11:7  And my people are bent to backsliding from me: though they called them to the most High, none at all would exalt him.

“When Israel was a child” sets the tone for the words of this prophecy. It reminds us that as babies we aren’t even aware of what our parents do for our health and wellbeing… “but they knew not that I healed them”. Nevertheless, the Lord has ordained that once we have a relationship with Him we will never return to our ignorance of Him. The next step in our “experience of evil” (Ecc 1:13) is to continue to turn our backs on our Deliverer until we are carried away into Babylonian captivity… “He shall not return into the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian shall be his king, because they refused to return.”

These words apply to all men, but it is important that we notice the timing of these stiff-necked rebellions against our Lord. This is how we all act when we are first dragged out of Egypt. This is also how we act before and during our time as servants of “the Assyrian”, meaning our time in Babylon. These prophecies begin to be fulfilled in our lives while we are still saying:

Num 14:3  And wherefore hath the LORD brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt?
Num 14:4  And they said one to another, Let us make a captain and let us return into Egypt.

Eventually the Lord drags us, as His children, past wanting to return to Egypt, and He even gives us the strength to overcome many of the giants that possess our land. Then the Lord has ordained that even if He destroys one hundred and eighty five thousand in the camp of the Assryians, we self-righteously take the glory to ourselves and do not give it to the Lord.

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 was magnified in the sight of all nations from thenceforth.
2Ch 32:25  But Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefit done unto him; for his heart was lifted up: therefore there was wrath upon him, and upon Judah and Jerusalem.

The Lord works with every man only through “fiery trials” (1Pe 4:12). The initial moving of the spirit within our lives comes to us in the form of some trial in our lives. We simply are not made to seek the Lord when times are good. We grow spiritually, even at the very beginning of the work of the Lord in our lives, only through some type of trial which will trouble our spirit. It may be a business deal that has scammed us out of our hard-earned wages. It can be physical sickness and ailments of many sorts, or it can be a friendly or a romantic relationship which has let us down, and we feel rejected by the whole world. These trials are what the scriptures refer to as ‘Egyptian taskmasters’, and at the appointed time the Lord comes into our lives and gives us a mental glimpse of a much better land and the hope of a much better future in that land. However, even as the Lord is dragging us out of Egypt, we find ourselves wanting to return to Egypt. If we love the Lord and are “the called according to His purpose”, then we, as symbolized by Caleb and Joshua, are given to enter into His kingdom where our judgment begins:

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 4:13  But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.
1Pe 4:14  If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.
1Pe 4:15  But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters.
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?
1Pe 4:18  And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
1Pe 4:19  Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.

Notice our instructions. We are told to “rejoice” while we are enduring “fiery trials”, and we are told to “glorify God on this behalf… that judgment must begin at the house of God…”

Peter poses the rhetorical question, “Where shall the ungodly and sinner appear… if the righteous scarcely be saved?” Jeremiah answers Peter’s question:

Jer 7:27  Therefore thou shalt speak all these words unto them; but they will not hearken to thee: thou shalt also call unto them; but they will not answer thee.
Jer 7:28  But thou shalt say unto them, This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the LORD their God, nor receiveth correction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth.
Jer 7:29  Cut off thine hair, O Jerusalem, and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on high places; for the LORD hath rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath.
Jer 7:30  For the children of Judah have done evil in my sight, saith the LORD: they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to pollute it.
Jer 7:31  And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart.

When we teach our children to disobey the Lord, we are burning them in the fire of the Lord’s words. When we teach our children to observe days, months, times and years, we are burning them to the false idols of our hearts.

The fires of Tophet which devour the children of the Lord’s children are the converse side of the fire of the Lord which burns out all the wood, hay and stubble in the lives of those who are groaning and travailing in pain together until now, suffering with our brothers who are in the world.

1Pe 5:8  Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
1Pe 5:9  Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.

Peter’s words here agree with the words of the apostle Paul in:

Rom 8:22  For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
Rom 8:23  And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
Rom 8:24  For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
Rom 8:25  But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

The difference between the suffering of “the whole creation” and “ourselves who have the firstfruits of the spirit” is that we have been granted to repent of burning our children in the fires of Tophet, whereas ‘[our] brothers that are in the world’ are not yet given that repentance. Satan is given to devour our brothers who are in the world (1Pe 5:9), but he is not allowed to devour us simply because Christ is interceding for us. Judas was told, “That which you doest, do quickly”, but knowing that Peter would deny him that very night, this is what the Lord told Peter:

Luk 22:31  And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:
Luk 22:32  But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.
Luk 22:33  And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death.
Luk 22:34  And he said, I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me.

We obviously have something “[our] brothers… in the world” just do not have:

1Jn 2:1  My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:

We know this is true because Christ Himself said:

Joh 17:9  I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.

Our brothers in the world suffer with us, and we suffer with them. The only difference is that our suffering in this present time is working judgment within us, which “judgment must begin at the house of God”, whereas their suffering in this present time is upon the “rejected and forsaken generation of His wrath”.

Jer 7:29  Cut off thine hair, O Jerusalem, and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on high places; for the LORD hath rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath.

As Revelation 15 states, no man enters the heavenly temple until the seven vials of the Lord’s wrath have been fulfilled in that man’s life:

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.

All men will experience the Lord’s wrath against their iniquities and transgressions just as Christ experienced the Lord’s wrath against His flesh and blood which could not inherit the kingdom of God. However, it is a blessed and holy few who will experience His wrath now and enter through judgment into His temple now rather than being judged later at the great white throne judgment:

Jer 3:13  Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD.
Jer 3:14  Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:

All the Lord requires of us is to acknowledge our iniquity, our self-righteousness, and our transgressions against Him. We should all be as the apostles and be wanting to ascertain that the Lord has prayed for us that our faith never fails us. The fact is that though Judas was only one out of twelve, he typifies “the son of perdition” in all men of all time. What a blessing it is to be granted to suffer with Christ in this present time while the whole world is groaning and travailing in pain, rather than having to groan and travail in pain again in the great white throne judgment/lake of fire/second death.

Christ Himself experienced the rejection of His flesh by His Father, “In a little wrath”:

Isa 54:7  For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee.
Isa 54:8  In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer.

There are those who claim these words are not speaking of Christ. Take that up with our Lord whose flesh cried out:

Mat 27:46  And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

What these excruciatingly sorrowful words tell those who are given eyes that see and ears that hear the things of the spirit is that not even the flesh of the Son of God “who knew no sin” could inherit the kingdom of God.

2Co 5:21  Him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

Christ was not “made to be sin” by being nailed to the cross, rather He was “made to be sin” by being “made of a woman, made under the law”:

Gal 4:3  Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements [Greek: G4747, stoicheion, the “carnal commandments” of Moses] of the world:
Gal 4:4  But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law [Greek: under, “stoicheion”],
Gal 4:5  To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
Gal 4:6  And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
Gal 4:7  Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
Gal 4:8  Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.
Gal 4:9  But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements [Greek: G4747, stoicheion], whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? [“Jerusalem which now is and is in bondage…” (vs 25)]

This revelation that flesh is itself sin, yes, even the flesh of Christ, is not peculiar to the New Testament. King David said this of his mother of whom we have no bad report at all:

Psa 51:5  Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

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

For this very reason… for the fact that all flesh equates with corruption, we are now told this of Christ and of our fellow man:

2Co 5:16  Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.
2Co 5:17  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

What do we do first? Most Christians know Christ only in the flesh. They are even taught to know Him as a babe in a manger, a twelve-year-old in the temple speaking with the Pharisees and lawyers, as a teacher and healer who fed the multitudes and performed physical miracles, and they still see Him only as the physical, fleshly sacrifice for our sins by being nailed to the cross.

All of this is just as essential as the milk doctrines of Christ, and all of this is just as elementary as those milk doctrines which, if we do not go beyond them, will spiritually starve us to death just as surely as an adult would be malnourished if he remained on a diet of only milk:

Heb 5:12  For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.
Heb 5:13  For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.
Heb 5:14  But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

There are no chapter breaks in the Greek manuscripts, and the very next words are:

Heb 6:1  Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, [the basic fact that Moses did indeed foresee Christ and that “the law is our schoolmaster to lead us to Christ” (Gal 3:24)] let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,
Heb 6:2  Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
Heb 6:3  And this will we do, if God permit.

Remember these words are all being spoken to those who “ought to be teachers, [but] have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.” (Heb 5:12)

It is largely because we self-righteously refuse to stop knowing Christ after the flesh, and we refuse to know Him “in spirit and in Truth”, that Jeremiah, in type, continues his prophecy of the judgment of God upon the inward kingdom of our self-righteous old man and upon the Lord’s own stubborn and rebellious people:

Jer 7:32  Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall no more be called Tophet, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter: for they shall bury in Tophet, till there be no place.
Jer 7:33  And the carcases of this people shall be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth; and none shall fray them away.
Jer 7:34  Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride: for the land shall be desolate.

These verses of Jeremiah 7:34 and Jeremiah 1:21 reveal that “Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots, and of abominations of the world” is none other than “Jerusalem which now is and is in bondage with her children”.

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

Gal 3:24  Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
Gal 3:25  But after that faith [Christ] is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
Gal 4:21  Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law [“the schoolmaster” (Gal 3:24-25)], do ye not hear the law?
Gal 4:22  For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.
Gal 4:23  But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.
Gal 4:24  Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.
Gal 4:25  For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.
Gal 4:26  But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.

Not one Christian minister in a thousand can see and hear the words, “Agar [Hagar]… answers to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.” The entire historical Christian church identifies with “Jerusalem which now is”, and even speaks of our “common Judeo-Christian heritage” as if Judaism had somehow accepted Christ as their Messiah. Those are not anti-Semitic words. They are simply anti-false doctrine words. The fact is that it is the “Judeo-Christian” world which hates the doctrines of Christ to the extent that the scriptures declare this great harlot is “full of murderers” (Isa 1:21), and she is “drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.”

Rev 17:4  And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
Rev 17:5  And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
Rev 17:6  And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.

‘The voice of mirth, gladness, bridegroom and bride, will all cease from Jerusalem’ (Jer 7:34) is exactly what we are told of the great harlot, Babylon:

Rev 18:21  And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.
Rev 18:22  And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee;
Rev 18:23  And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.

The Greek word for ‘sorceries’ is G5331 ‘pharmakeia’, from which we derive our English word ‘pharmacy”. It conveys the sense of being drugged by all the false doctrines of the religions of the entire earth. “By thy sorceries were all nations deceived” reveals that it is through the religions of mankind that “all the kings of the earth” are blinded from seeing the Truth of the gospel.

Jerusalem in the Old Testament was the capital city of the people of God, and in the New Testament, the name ‘Jerusalem’ is symbolic of all those who claim the name of Christ and think they are a part of His kingdom.

Compare these words of Revelation 18 concerning ‘Babylon the Great’ to these words of Jeremiah 25, which are addressed specifically to “Judah… and Jerusalem”:

Jer 25:2  The [word] which Jeremiah the prophet spake unto all the people of Judah, and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying,

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.

What a revelation! The judgment of physical Old Testament Jerusalem is accomplished at the hand of physical Old Testament Babylon. That judgment of the Lord’s Old Testament people typifies the judgment of spiritual ‘Babylon the great, the mother of harlots”, which is a New Testament name for “Jerusalem which now is and is in bondage with her children” (Gal 4:25). That Old Testament judgment of the Lord’s people is now taking place at the hand of Jerusalem above, the mother of us all, as we witness the fulfilling of the Lord’s words in the mouths of His “two witnesses”. When we accomplish our testimony against the world of the Lord’s apostate people, within and outwardly, then we “lie dead in the streets of the great city where also our Lord was crucified… Babylon the Great the Mother of Harlots and of Abominations of the Earth… where also our Lord was crucified.”

2Co 2:15  For we are a sweet aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing —
2Co 2:16  to the latter an odor from death to death, but to the former a fragrance from life to life. And who is adequate for these things?
2Co 2:17  For we are not like so many others, hucksters who peddle the word of God for profit, but we are speaking in Christ before God as persons of sincerity, as persons sent from God. (NET)

Rev 11:3  And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.
Rev 11:4  These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.
Rev 11:5  And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.
Rev 11:6  These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.

How do we go about shutting up heaven that it rains not in the days of our prophecy? We do so by simply pointing to these words which are the title of our study today:

Jer 7:28  But thou shalt say unto them, This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the LORD their God, nor receiveth correction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth.

When we are given to simply be faithful to the Lord’s prophecies, we become the means by which He sets nations up and by which He destroys nations.

Jer 1:9  Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.
Jer 1:10  See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.

This is true inwardly first, but when it is fulfilled inwardly, then it will also be fulfilled outwardly as we witness the destruction that the Lord’s Words in our mouths reveal is the God-ordained result of our disobedience. Just look around about you at the moral and spiritual decay taking place in this dying world.

I just read an email to a conservative news site from a resident of Portland, Oregon. This person said (and I paraphrase from memory), “I am a resident of Portland, and anyone who thinks Portland is burning to the ground simply doesn’t live here.”

That is a perfect example of spiritual blindness, which typifies all men. The strength of the authorities who lead the city of Portland, Oregon (that being their police department) has been being burned to the ground for many months now, and any resident of Portland who cannot foresee where this is leading that city and this nation is beyond blind.

Such a mind, as the writer of that email has, is the spirit which led our Lord to make this statement:

Mat 24:37  But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
Mat 24:38  For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
Mat 24:39  And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

We are not given to know either the day or hour of the Lord’s appearing and the exact date of “the redemption of the purchased possession… the blessed and holy… first resurrection”, but we are made to know that “the time is at hand”, and we are told that the Lord will do nothing without revealing His secret to His servants the prophets.

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?
Amo 3:7  Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.
Amo 3:8  The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord GOD hath spoken, who can but prophesy?

That concludes today’s study in Jeremiah 7. We will continue to learn about “His secret” judgments in the next chapter. Here are the verses we hope to cover next week:

Jer 8:1  At that time, saith the LORD, they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of his princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves:
Jer 8:2  And they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the host of heaven, whom they have loved, and whom they have served, and after whom they have walked, and whom they have sought, and whom they have worshipped: they shall not be gathered, nor be buried; they shall be for dung upon the face of the earth.
Jer 8:3  And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue of them that remain of this evil family, which remain in all the places whither I have driven them, saith the LORD of hosts.
Jer 8:4  Moreover thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD; Shall they fall, and not arise? shall he turn away, and not return?
Jer 8:5  Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return.
Jer 8:6  I hearkened and heard, but they spake not aright: no man repented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? every one turned to his course, as the horse rusheth into the battle.
Jer 8:7  Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the LORD.
Jer 8:8  How do ye say, We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us? Lo, certainly in vain made he it; the pen of the scribes is in vain.
Jer 8:9  The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken: lo, they have rejected the word of the LORD; and what wisdom is in them?
Jer 8:10  Therefore will I give their wives unto others, and their fields to them that shall inherit them: for every one from the least even unto the greatest is given to covetousness, from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely.
Jer 8:11  For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.