Jeremiah 3-4: Impending Doom

Jeremiah apparently never read How to Win Friends and Influence People, as he begins his prophetic words to Israel with some of the harshest criticism imaginable.

You have played the whore with many lovers; and would you return to me? declares the LORD.

Where have you not been ravished? By the waysides you have sat awaiting lovers like an Arab in the wilderness. You have polluted the land with your vile whoredom.

Jeremiah was called by God to tell the people of Israel of their impending demise for their unrelenting rebellion, and he did not mince words.

6 The LORD said to me in the days of King Josiah: "Have you seen what she did, that faithless one, Israel, how she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and there played the whore? 7 And I thought, 'After she has done all this she will return to me,' but she did not return...

The Lord stood by for so many tortuous years, with such incredible patience, for His people to return to Him.

Return, faithless Israel, declares the LORD. I will not look on you in anger, for I am merciful, declares the LORD; I will not be angry forever. 13Only acknowledge your guilt, that you rebelled against the LORD your God and scattered your favors among foreigners under every green tree, and that you have not obeyed my voice, declares the LORD.

After all of the idolatry, sin, rebellion and disobedience, all that God wanted was for His people to acknowledge their wrongdoing and He would have accepted them back into fellowship with arms wide open. It's really the most incredibly gracious standard imaginable - and yet we all struggle with admitting when we screw up. Our sinful hearts are too prideful to own up to our mistakes and disobedience, just like the people of Israel.

Jeremiah goes on to tell of the coming destruction of Israel and Judah:

...flee for safety, stay not, for I bring disaster from the north, and great destruction. 7 A lion has gone up from his thicket, a destroyer of nations has set out; he has gone out from his place to make your land a waste; your cities will be ruins without inhabitant.

 Jeremiah continues to spur the people of Israel to repent from their evil ways:

14 O Jerusalem, wash your heart from evil, that you may be saved. How long shall your wicked thoughts lodge within you?

He also continues to affirm that the inevitable judgment they will receive is the reward earned by their rebellion - a fate which their God tried to prevent in every way.

18 Your ways and your deeds have brought this upon you. This is your doom, and it is bitter; it has reached your very heart.

Jeremiah laments the coming destruction of the people he loves:

19 My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain! Oh the walls of my heart! My heart is beating wildly; I cannot keep silent, for I hear the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.

26 I looked, and behold, the fruitful land was a desert, and all its cities were laid in ruins before the LORD, before his fierce anger. 27 For thus says the LORD, "The whole land shall be a desolation; yet I will not make a full end."

Jeremiah's prophecies for the people of Israel are terribly frightening and depressing; however, it is the true destiny that lies in store for Israel. A people who, like us, have rebelled and taken a path in defiance of a loving God.