The Promise, the Threat, and the Lament

The Promise, the Threat, and the Lament
Jeremiah 4:1-31
January 28, 2001

Introduction:

Thesis: Repent and prosper or continue in sin until you are destroyed.

I. Yahweh’s Call for Israel’s Return 1-4
A. The “If, Then” Statement 1-2
1. If you will return, I will bless you.
a. Many blessings are second, third, fourth generation blessings.
b. How long can we continue as a nation if we refuse to return to God?
2. If you will refuse, I will curse you.
a. Every Bible blessing has an alternate curse.
b. God is simply saying, “If you sow the wind, you reap the whirlwind” Hosea 8:7
B. Break Up the Fallow Ground 3-4
1. The metaphor of the farmer.
a. The fallow ground has nothing to do with farming.
b. It has everything to do with the human condition.
2. The metaphor of circumcision.
a. The circumcision has nothing to do with the Law.
b. It has everything to do with a right relationship with an Almighty God.
5 ¶ Declare in Judah, and let it be heard in Jerusalem; and say, Blow the trumpet in the land; cry, gather together, and say, Gather yourselves and let us go into the fortified cities.
6 Set up the banner toward Zion; flee for safety and do not wait; for I will bring evil from the north, and a great ruin.
7 The lion has come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of the nations has set out; he has left his place to make your land a waste. Your cities will fall into ruins without inhabitant.
8 Put on sackcloth for this, wail and howl; for the fierce anger of the LORD is not turned back from us.
9 And it shall be at that day, says the LORD, the king’s heart will perish, and the heart of the rulers; and the priests will be amazed, and the prophets will be astounded.
II. The Proclamation of Judah’s Imminent Judgment 5-22
A. The Identity and Nature of the Destroyer 5-9
1. The Identity of the Destroyer
a. Some scholars see a Sythian Invasion in Jeremiah 4. This concept arose from an antisupernatural bias against predictive prophecy.
b. The Bible, Jeremiah names the Destroyer - Nebuchadnezzar the Babylonian.
2. The Nature of the Destroyer
a. The invasion of the land
b. The siege of Jerusalem
c. The devastatin of the land
d. The decimation of the population.
B. The Response of the Prophet 10-13
1. Lord God! You have deceived the people! NO!
2. God did allow the false prophets to operate.
3. God also allowed the real prophets to operate.
4. God left it to the people to decide who was who.
C. The Call for Immediate Repentance 14-18
1. To be saved, there is only one recourse - immediate repentance!!!
2. To divert disaster in Dan there is only one recourse - immediate repentance!!!
3. To thwart the war, there is only one recourse - immediate repentance!!!
III. The Lament 19-31
A. The Lament of Jeremiah 19-26
1. Jeremiah is ‘seeing’ the death of his nation.
2. He cries out but no one is listening to the alarm of war.
3. He sees something more alarming 23-26
B. The Voice of Yahweh 27-31
1. The whole land will be ruined
2. The die is cast and nothing can reverse the decree of Yahweh.