If you have read the book of Jeremiah before, or heard a sermon preached from it, the book probably seemed very legalistic. Such was the situation of the Old Covenant prophets – after all, they were still under the Old Covenant, and the Law of Moses was their life. Jeremiah’s message to the nation was to stop thinking that you are safe when you are committing so many terrible sins; he was warning the people of the coming judgment for not holding to their covenant obligations. A very serious and important message, and to be fair, he was actually doing the nation a favor, because that was their covenant, and by warning them to change he was giving them an opportunity to avoid punishment.
Sadly though, many believers today when they read the book of Jeremiah (or any Old Covenant prophet) and when such things are preached from pulpits, they are usually expounded upon as if the Old Covenant were still in-effect, striking the people with judgment and warnings to avoid committing sinful acts to avoid punishment, as if Jesus did not suffer punishment and finish His work on the cross. Jeremiah still carries a message for today, though it is a message that can only be seen in the light of the finished work of Jesus Christ; and this is what we will be studying today.
Let’s begin today by reading Jeremiah 7:1-10:
“The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
Stand in the gate of the LORD’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the LORD, all you of Judah, that enter in at these gates to worship the LORD.
Thus said the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.
Trust you not in lying words, saying, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, are these.
For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings; if you thoroughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbor;
If you oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt:
Then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever.
Behold, you trust in lying words, that cannot profit.
Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you know not;
And come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?”
Now the first thing for us to see here is that the words which Jeremiah are about to speak here are from the LORD. Jeremiah is not speaking his own feelings; he is not speaking his own emotions or his own ideas. This is important for a couple of reasons: first because all of the words that God speaks are manifold. Psalms 104:24 says that the works of God are manifold, and Ephesians 3:10 says that the wisdom of God is manifold, which means multi-layered. God is the creator of all language, and when He uses language to express Himself, He does so perfectly, and He demonstrates His manifold, multi-layered wisdom perfectly as well. So while the Holy Spirit of God communicated the appropriate message to Jeremiah’s primary audience under the Old Covenant Law of Moses, He also communicates the appropriate message for us today who are under the Messianic Covenant of Grace in Christ Jesus.
This is nothing new. This is not a new revelation that I have made up or discovered on my own. Examples can be seen of interpreting the Old Covenant writings in the light of the finished work of Christ throughout the Bible. In 2nd Corinthians 3:14-16, this exact idea is conveyed. There is a veil on the hearts of people when the Old Testament is read in a dead way apart from the revelation of Christ, however in verse 16, when it is turned to the Lord [Christ] the veil is done away with. Further examples of this kind of reading can be found in:
Hosea 11:1 with Matthew 2:15
Luke 24:27
Romans 4:13
Galatians 3:15
Galatians 4:22-24
Acts 8:30-34
So the scriptural foundation for unveiling the old testament writings in the light of the finished work of Christ Jesus is very much there. Let us now use this same principle to see what the Holy Spirit has said to us in Jeremiah here.
In verse 2 of our text, we see where this message is to be proclaimed, it is in the gate of the LORD’s house. In Jeremiah’s day, this was the temple of the LORD, for us today, it is actually each of us, since we today are the temple of the Holy Spirit (1st Corinthians 6:19) and we are His building today (1st Corinthians 3:9). Today, the church is not a temple, synagogue or a physical building, but we are the church of God in Christ. And as verse 2 continues Hear the word of the LORD, all you of Judah, that enter in at these gates to worship the LORD. So this message is to everyone who desires to worship God.
What does He say in verses 3 and 7?
“Thus said the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.
Trust you not in lying words, saying, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, are these.
For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings; if you thoroughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbor;
If you oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt:
Then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever.”
God says that something needs to change. In Jeremiah’s day, the people of God were badly oppressing and mistreating others; cheating lying and stealing from them, violating their covenant with God and then assuming that they were still okay and safe because the temple of the LORD was there in their midst. When someone would complain about the mistreatment, they would simply reply “nothing bad will happen to us, see the temple of the LORD is here.” which is the meaning of the words in verses 4 and 10.
For us today, a similar oppression is happening… let me call your attention to verse 6. Notice the people-groups mentioned here: strangers, the fatherless, and the widows and the directive is to not shed innocent blood.
Now allow me to paint you a picture… millions of people attend their churches all over the world, many of them thinking of that place as “God’s house” and they go there to worship God. They have good intentions, they are honest folks, but they are being oppressed without realizing it. Their innocent blood is being shed (because in Christ Jesus today, they are totally innocent as per Colossians 1:22).
These precious people whom God loves, both believers and unbelievers – the strangers, those who do not realize they have a Heavenly Father; those who are widows not realizing they are the beautiful bride of Christ – all of these people, need to be fed with the Gospel of Christ, to be delivered from oppression and have justice done for them, yet instead they are being ministered oppression. You see, Jeremiah’s message from God today, is to every teacher, every leader and every pastor. Do not oppress the stranger who needs to know that he is welcome in My home. Do not oppress the fatherless who needs to know that he has a Heavenly Father which loves him. Do not oppress the widow who needs to know that she has a Husband who calls her the fairest among women. (Song 1:8). Do not shed the innocent blood which Christ has made innocent by His finished work on the cross.
So just how are these people being oppressed? Drop down to verse 17 of this same chapter and read through to verse 19:
“See you not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
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 to other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.
Do they provoke me to anger? said the LORD: do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces?”
Jeremiah’s message to the people back then was to stop with the idolatry that was causing so much turmoil and was the real source of the oppression, and in this this his message is the same for us today. Only the idolatry today is much more subtle and cloaked in religiosity and self-righteousness. Take a look at the details in verse 18:
The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough. Now those of you who have been studying with us for a while now are probably already recognizing some of the typology being used here.
The children (those who are younger) are made to gather wood, which is a symbol of humanity and human-effort, while the fathers (those who are more mature) kindle the fire. Now the word for “fire” here is the same Hebrew word used when the scripture speaks of God’s anger; so the implication here is that while the children are working to gather and collect human efforts, those who are over them are kindling the fire, nurturing the idea of an angry judgmental God. The women are involved here as well, and this particular action is expounded on further in Jeremiah 44:19, where they would take their bread, shape it with the mark of the idol, and burn it in fire.
What does all of this look like in our culture today? Whenever people are brought into bondage by promoting the image of an angry judgmental God that demands works, self-effort and self-sacrifice in order to be appeased. Whenever the bread of the people is stolen, burned, or corrupted with judgment, it will end up causing exactly what God says in verse 19: it will lead to confusion of their own faces.
Now that is very interesting phrasing… confusion of their own faces. The word confusion is better translated is shame… however the point is this: when you are motivated by the sense of an angry God, when your focus is on your own performance, when you are constantly having the idea of God’s judgment being kindled in your mind, and your bread (the word of God) is being shaped into that image, it will cause you to be in shame and confusion – because you will not be feeding on the true message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but you will be feeding on a message based on yourself and your own works.
This is precisely why Jeremiah was to declare this message at the gate of the temple. This is exactly why his message says not to shed innocent blood, not to oppress the people. That’s exactly what the self-righteous works-based, idolatrous message of works does today to millions of people.
What does Jesus say that His message is? Let’s take a quick look at it now, in Luke 4:18-19:
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”
Jesus’ message is to preach the Gospel (good news) of Himself to the poor; to heal the brokenhearted, (not crush them further with judgment); to preach deliverance to the captives (not to bring them under further bondage) to recover the sight of the blind; to set free those who are oppressed. To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. Now is the time when God accepts you. He does not reject you. He is not looking to hurt or punish you.
Let us close our study time today by showing you something that will help you determine if the message which you are hearing is one of oppression (which is not of God), or whether it is the message of Jesus Christ. It is found in Acts 20:29-32:
“For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.
Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.
And now, brothers, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.”
Paul thought that this was serious enough to warn the people every day and night with tears. He was crying over this fact… that people will come in not sparing the flock. God sent Jesus to spare the people from the bondage and punishment and condemnation of the Law. But these new people would come in and speak perverse (corrupt, heinous) things and not spare the people.
Then in verse 32, Paul reminds the people what the real word of God is… the word of His Grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance. This is the key point right here:
If you are hearing a word which is not building you up in Christ but instead tearing you down with fear or uncertainty – giving you a foundation based on works or self-effort, focusing you on something other than the finished work of Christ Jesus for you, then it is not the word of God. If you are hearing a word that is not giving you an inheritance in Jesus, but is instead trying to steal your inheritance away, making you think you have to do something to earn it, then it is not the word of God.
This is the truth of the Gospel. This is the message Christ came to bring. This is what He has done, and this is the truth that will make you free and change your life forever. Give Jesus the praise.