Jer 9:13-26 Glory in This, That [You] Understand and Know Me

[Study Aired May 23, 2021]

Jer 9:13  And the LORD saith, Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, neither walked therein;
Jer 9:14  But have walked after the imagination of their own heart, and after Baalim, which their fathers taught them:
Jer 9:15  Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.
Jer 9:16  I will scatter them also among the heathen, whom neither they nor their fathers have known: and I will send a sword after them, till I have consumed them.
Jer 9:17  Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for cunning women, that they may come:
Jer 9:18  And let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters.
Jer 9:19  For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we spoiled! we are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because our dwellings have cast us out.
Jer 9:20  Yet hear the word of the LORD, O ye women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth, and teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbour lamentation.
Jer 9:21  For death is come up into our windows,  and is entered into our palaces, to cut off the children from without, and the young men from the streets.
Jer 9:22  Speak, Thus saith the LORD, Even the carcases of men shall fall as dung upon the open field, and as the handful after the harvestman, and none shall gather them.
Jer 9:23  Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise  man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty  man glory in his might, let not the rich  man glory in his riches:
Jer 9:24  But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.
Jer 9:25  Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will punish all them which are circumcised with the uncircumcised;
Jer 9:26  Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all that are in the utmost corners, that dwell in the wilderness: for all these nations  are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel  are uncircumcised in the heart.

The title of our study is taken from:

Jer 9:24  But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.

Knowing Christ and His Father is life eternal, and that ‘knowledge’ is not the immature ‘knowledge’ which puffs us up and leads us to become self-righteous and look down on others whom we deem to be less knowledgeable about God than we are.

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

This ‘knowledge of God’ brings us to appreciate His “lovingkindness, judgment and righteousness”. Our soul’s desire becomes a hunger and thirst to know the judgments of our old man revealed in the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah and all the other prophets who speak of “that day” the day of our judgment. The Truth is that when we come to know our Lord, we will be grateful we have been given to understand the need for His judgments, and we will see that His judgments are “His goodness… His lovingkindness, and His righteousness”. All His words are Truth, and His justice and judgments endure through every generation:

Psa 119:160   The sum of Thy word is truth, And to the age is every judgment of Thy righteousness! (YLT)

It is His judgment to first give us an experience of evil and then to use that experience to give Him the “occasion” He is seeking against our old man to judge him and to humble and destroy him.

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)

2Pe 2:12  But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;

Jer 9:13  And the LORD saith, Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, neither walked therein;

‘We forsake the Lord’s law and do not obey His voice’ by the design the Lord has laid out for us in Ecclesiastes 1:13. It is because the Lord “has given… [us] an experience of evil” that He is now humbling us “because [we] have forsaken [His] law, and have not obeyed [His] voice”, meaning His commandments and His doctrines.

Jer 9:14  But have walked after the imagination of their own heart, and after Baalim, which their fathers taught them:

“The imagination of [the] heart of our old man is the same as the imagination of the hearts of our fathers who also followed all the traditions and customs of Baalim, including the days, months times and years which Baalim, “the god of this world” uses to keep us spiritually blinded and in darkness:

2Co 4:3  But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
2Co 4:4  In whom the god of this world [Greek: ‘aion’, age] hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

God’s own people preferred the pagan holidays of their neighbors to the holy days the Lord had commanded them to observe. In His “reformation” Christ broke both the weekly sabbath (Mat 12:1-8, Joh 5:18) and the annual holy days (Joh 7:1-9). Then through the apostle Paul we are admonished against keeping any “days, months, times and years”:

Gal 4:10  Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.
Gal 4:11  I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.

For those who can receive it, birthdays and anniversaries are “days” which are traditionally kept by pagan nations. It is instructive that not one birthday of any patriarch or prophet or apostle, including the birthday of Christ, is given us in scripture. In insisting on keeping these traditions of men, we have truly forsaken the Lord’s law, walked after our own heart, and after Baalim as our fathers have taught us’ (Jer 9:13-14).

The Lord has given Satan the power to keep our old man and this world blinded until the time of our judgment.

Jer 9:15  Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.

This statement concerning the Lord giving us “wormwood and the water of gall to drink” is taken from these verses in Deuteronomy:

Deu 29:14  Neither with you only do I make this covenant and this oath;
Deu 29:15  But with him that standeth here with us this day before the LORD our God, and also with him that  is not here with us this day:
Deu 29:16  (For ye know how we have dwelt in the land of Egypt; and how we came through the nations which ye passed by;
Deu 29:17  And ye have seen their abominations, and their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold, which were among them:)
Deu 29:18  Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the LORD our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood;
Deu 29:19  And it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst:
Deu 29:20  The LORD will not spare him, but then the anger of the LORD and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the LORD shall blot out his name from under heaven.

The words and doctrines of the great whore are likened to “bitter… wormwood”:

Pro 5:1  My son, attend unto my wisdom, and  bow thine ear to my understanding:
Pro 5:2  That thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.
Pro 5:3  For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil:
Pro 5:4  But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword.
Pro 5:5  Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell.
Pro 5:6  Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them.

All of this is the foundation for these words in the book of Revelation:

Rev 8:10  And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters;
Rev 8:11  And the name of the star is called Wormwood:  and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.

For those with ‘eyes that see’, “the third part” reveals that this is all a part of the process of judging and destroying our own old man:  The Number Three

Jer 9:16  I will scatter them also among the heathen, whom neither they nor their fathers have known: and I will send a sword after them, till I have consumed them.
Jer 9:17  Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for cunning women, that they may come:
Jer 9:18  And let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters.
Jer 9:19 For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we spoiled! we are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because our dwellings have cast us out.

“Our dwellings have cast us out” is a reference to this fact:

Eze 2:6  And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns  be with thee, and thou dost dwell among scorpions: be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.

Dwelling with ‘briers, thorns and scorpions’ is living with all the lying false doctrines of “their words”.

Here is the New Testament version of this part of our judgment:

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:
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.
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.

In Revelation chapters 14 and 16 we are told that this “wrath of God” is poured out on the great whore, Babylon the Great, within us. That is why we are told, “No man was able to enter into the temple [in heaven – vs 5], till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled [within our lives].” This part of our “experience of evil” is described as “Babylon is fallen” in Revelation 14, 16, and 18. It is also called “the patience of the saints and they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus”:

Rev 14:6  And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,
Rev 14:7  Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.
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.
Rev 14:12  Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

Just what percentage of mankind “worship the beast and his image, and… receive the mark of his name”? The scriptures make the answer to that question super clear in the previous chapter:

Rev 13:16  And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:

“All, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond” is triple explicit. This mark is common to all of mankind, “small and great, rich and poor, free and bond.”

Being “tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb” is called being brought to one’s “wits’ end” in Psalms 107:

Psa 107:10  Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron;
Psa 107:11  Because they rebelled against the words of God, and contemned the counsel of the most High:
Psa 107:12  Therefore he brought down their heart with labour; they fell down, and there was none to help.
Psa 107:13  Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses.
Psa 107:14  He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake their bands in sunder.
Psa 107:15  Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!
Psa 107:25  For he [the Lord] commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
Psa 107:26  They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.
Psa 107:27  They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end.
Psa 107:28  Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
Psa 107:29  He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.
Psa 107:30  Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.
Psa 107:31  Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

When the scripture uses the word ‘then’ it behooves us to acknowledge that it means ‘not until then’. We do not “cry unto the Lord in our trouble” until “He brings down our heart with labor and there is no one [but Him to] help” us.

We do not “Cry unto the Lord in our trouble” until “He raises the stormy wind and lifts up the waves thereof [and we] are at [our] wits’ end.” Only “then [do we] cry unto the Lord in our trouble” and He brings [us] out of [our] troubles, calms our seas, and brings us to our desired haven. Truly it really is only “the goodness of God that brings us to repentance” and still we tire of hearing of His wonderful judgments and “His goodness to the children of men”:

Isa 26:8  Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O LORD, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul  is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee [and “the way of your judgments”].
Isa 26:9  With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

Several years back, when we were just part way through our series of studies in the book of Revelation, in exasperation my son blurted out… “I am so tired of the book of Revelation. Can’t we go on to something else?” There is no doubt that he was simply saying what he and others thought. It is obvious in hindsight that he had not yet been brought to his wits’ end and “[his] soul [did not yet] desire the way of [the Lord’s] judgments”. That day has not yet come to him, but whenever that day does come, it will be “the Lord’s goodness… bring[ing him] to [his] wits’ end… [and bringing  him] to repentance”:

Rom 2:4  Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God [His judgments] leadeth thee to repentance?

Jer 9:20  Yet hear the word of the LORD, O ye women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth, and teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbour lamentation.

Those who tire of hearing about the Lord’s judgments always have some more ‘glorious riches’ they want to give to the body of Christ. How few it is who can say with Isaiah:

Isa 26:8  Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O LORD, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul  is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee.
Isa 26:9  With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

The “women” of verse 20 are you and me if we are the Lord’s elect: “…Hear the word of the LORD, O ye women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth, and teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbour lamentation.”

Our doctrines are our children… our daughters. It is only the Lord’s elect who want to “teach [our] daughters wailing” and our “neighbor lamentation”. The harlot and the world she rules have much more exciting things to do and to teach, and it all appeals to our ‘belly’… our physical and our mental and emotional desires.

Rom 16:17  Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.
Rom 16:18  For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.

We should not want to be “simple”. Being ‘simple’ is the opposite of being ‘wise’:

Psa 19:7  The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure,  making wise the simple.

Pro 21:11  When the scorner is punished, the simple is made wise: and when the wise is instructed, he receiveth knowledge.

This is reaffirmed in our next verse:

Jer 9:21  For death is come up into our windows,  and is entered into our palaces, to cut off the children from without, and the young men from the streets.

Again, our false doctrines, which are the self-righteous “children [and] young men… children of the kingdom [of our old man]”, will be “cut off” by the “wormwood and… gall” which the Lord gives us to drink. The positive application of “the children of the kingdom” is the pure doctrine of Christ within us. As is always the case, “the children of the kingdom” has both a negative and a positive application in scripture:

Mat 8:12  But the children of the kingdom [with their false doctrines] shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Mat 13:38  The field is the world; the good seed [the doctrines of Christ] are the children of the kingdom; but the tares [false doctrines of Babylon] are the children of the wicked one;

Jer 9:22  Speak, Thus saith the LORD, Even the carcases of men shall fall as dung upon the open field, and as the handful after the harvestman, and none shall gather them.
Jer 9:23  Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise  man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty  man glory in his might, let not the rich man  glory in his riches:

There is no quarter given to the mother of harlots. She and her children are “the wise men, the mighty men, and the rich men” of this world. Their carcasses will “fall as dung upon the open field.”

We who have moved beyond the milk doctrines, including the doctrine of age-lasting judgment, have done so because we have been given to appreciate that being “crucified with Christ” is a good thing. We are going beyond the milk doctrines because we know the product of judgment, and we know that “all things… life… death… the world… things present and things to come” are all ours, and our eyes are on the product of the Lord’s judgments in our lives. That ‘product’ is the unadulterated knowledge of God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent. That knowledge is life eternal:

Joh 17:1  These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:
Joh 17:2  As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
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 17:4  I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.
Joh 17:5  And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world [G2889: kosmos] was.
Joh 17:6  I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.
Joh 17:7  Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee.
Joh 17:8  For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. [“Calling those things that be not as though they were” (Mar 16:14; Rom 4:17)]
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.

Jesus came into this world for judgment, but He is not at this time judging this world. Judgment “begins at us”, and then the Lord through us will judge this world for a thousand years, and then we will be the judges of the great white throne judgment:

Joh 9:39  And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.
Joh 9:40  And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also?
Joh 9:41  Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see;  therefore your sin remaineth.

Christ “came into the world… for judgment”, but He did not come to judge this world at this time:

Joh 12:47  And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.
Joh 12:48  He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day [The great white throne judgment, Rev 20:11].

Very few are honored with being judged in this age. It will be so few that when asked about “the sign of [His] coming” these were Christ’s words as they relate to the number of believers at that time:

Mat 24:37  But as the days of Noe  were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

Luk 17:32  Remember Lot’s wife.

Luk 18:8  I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?

Christ had earlier told His disciples this concerning the parable of the wedding supper at the beginning of the thousand-year reign and those who would be given a part in that “marriage supper” also known as “the first resurrection” (Rev 19:7 and 20:6).

Mat 22:14  For many are called, but few  are chosen.

Jer 9:24  But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.

We are saved “by grace through faith”, and both are a gift from God. From beginning to end it is all His workings:

Eph 2:6  And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
Eph 2:7  That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9  Not of [our] works, lest any man should boast.
Eph 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

“His grace in His kindness” is His chastening and scourging which bring us to repentance.

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

Heb 12:5  And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
Heb 12:7  If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

As our brother Tony pointed out in his first study in 1^st Kings:

1Ki 1:5  Then Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, I will be king: and he prepared him chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him.
1Ki 1:6  And his father had not displeased him at any time in saying, Why hast thou done so? and he also  was a very goodly man; and his mother  bare him after Absalom.

King David had promised Bathsheba that her son Solomon would become king, but Adonijah simply took it upon himself to usurp the throne of his father, and his father failed to discipline him for his presumptuous actions. It was all done, and it is written down, for our admonition, demonstrating what confusion and strife is born of a lack of chastening and scourging from a loving father. That is not our loving heavenly Father’s mode of operation. Our heavenly Father is a vigilant, diligent Father who never takes a break from watching over and disciplining us for our good:

Psa 121:1  A Song of degrees. I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
Psa 121:2  My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.
Psa 121:3  He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.
Psa 121:4  Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.

Jer 9:25  Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will punish all them which are circumcised with the uncircumcised;
Jer 9:26  Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all that are in the utmost corners, that dwell in the wilderness: for all these nations  are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart.

These last two verses are foundational to Paul’s revolutionary proclamation:

Rom 2:26  Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision?
Rom 2:27  And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law?
Rom 2:28  For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
Rom 2:29  But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

The holy spirit has blinded the eyes of most Babylonian churches to these words. Having been in Babylon for decades I also simply could not see what is and what is “not a Jew”, and I certainly could not see how it was possible “by the letter and circumcision…[to] transgress the law.”

“Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all that are in the utmost corners,  that dwell in the wilderness: for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart.” Therefore “He is not a Jew which is one outwardly, but he is a Jew which is one inwardly”.

Babylon is “in the wilderness”, and that is where we all are until we “come out of her…”:

Rev 17:3  So he carried me away in the spirit  into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.

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.

The Lord was merciful, and He began chastening and scourging me and dragging me out of Babylon. As He did so He began to give me eyes that could see and ears that could hear “the mysteries of the kingdom of God”. So it is with every one of us if indeed the Lord loves us.

Mat 13:10  And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
Mat 13:11  He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
Mat 13:12  For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.
Mat 13:16  But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.
Mat 13:17  For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.

That is our study for today. We will begin chapter 10 next week:

Jer 10:1  Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto you, O house of Israel:
Jer 10:2  Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.
Jer 10:3  For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.
Jer 10:4  They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.
Jer 10:5  They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.
Jer 10:6  Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee, O LORD; thou art great, and thy name is great in might.
Jer 10:7  Who would not fear thee, O King of nations? for to thee doth it appertain: forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like unto thee.
Jer 10:8  But they are altogether brutish and foolish: the stock is a doctrine of vanities.
Jer 10:9  Silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the workman, and of the hands of the founder: blue and purple is their clothing: they are all the work of cunning men.
Jer 10:10  But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation.
Jer 10:11  Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens.
Jer 10:12  He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion.
Jer 10:13  When he uttereth his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens, and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures.