We thank God for His Word from Jeremiah chapter 2, reminding us not to forsake our LORD, the Fountain of our living waters. Today, we shall continue to meditate on Jeremiah chapter 3, reminding us to return to the LORD Himself alone, our gracious and merciful God, when the Holy Spirit reminds us to do so.
THE REASONS WHY GOD CALLED HIS PEOPLE TO RETURN TO HIM
1. Being Defiled by Idolatry and Wickedness
Jeremiah 3:1 They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man's, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith the LORD. 2 Lift up thine eyes unto the high places, and see where thou hast not been lien with. In the ways hast thou sat for them, as the Arabian in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness.
According to Deuteronomy 24:1-4, when a husband divorces his wife, and she becomes another man's wife, she is defiled. The former husband is not allowed to take her back again to be his wife, for that is abomination. Here, the Lord, the Creator, is His people's divine Husband (Isaiah 54:5), and His people are His wife. Sadly, she committed spiritual adultery and "played the harlot with many lovers," that means, with many idols and false gods. However, she still returned again to the Lord, not in repentance nor in forsaking of sins, iniquity and idolatry (3:1)! According to God's holy and righteous law, God would not accept His idolatrous people! However, by God's grace and mercy alone, He still called His people to return to Him with their whole heart in sincere repentance (Jer 3:12, 14, 22). We have learnt about the prophet Hosea, whom God sent to speak to His idolatrous people Israel, the northern kingdom. According God's law, Hosea was not allowed to marry a harlot nor to take her back after she followed another man. However, to show His people's unfaithfulness and spiritual adultery as well as God's love, grace and mercy toward them, God commanded his servant Hosea to marry a harlot named Gomer (Hosea 1:2). After she had three children with Hosea, she left him and followed her lover. God commanded Hosea to redeem her "for fifteen pieces of silver, and for an homer of barley, and an half homer of barley" (Hosea 3:2). When we highly value and love ourselves, our will, and our things above God and His will, and it is idolatry. King Saul partly obeyed God's will and command, and it is as "iniquity and idolatry" (1 Samuel 15:23). When we love someone or something above God, it is idolatry. We have been defiled before God already! According to God's law, God will not accept us. However, by God's grace, mercy, and salvation in His Son Jesus Christ, who was crucified on the cross to redeem us from the curse of the law (Gal 3:13), and He rose again to make intercession for us and to defend us when we repent of our sin and return to Him with trust and submission. God the Father is willing and happy to accept us in His beloved Son Jesus Christ (Eph 1:6). God still calls His people to return to Him in repentance to enjoy His forgiveness, salvation, loving care, and blessings! How loving, good, gracious, and merciful the LORD is!
2. Being Chastised But Still without Repentance
Jeremiah 3:3 Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain; and thou hadst a whore's forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed.
The former rain in the Promised Land is in October-November, and the latter rain is in March-April. Without the rain, it is a disaster for farmers. Here, to chastise His people, God withheld the showers/rain and even the latter rain, but they did not fear God, nor take God's chastisement seriously, nor to be ashamed, nor to come back to Him in repentance! The Lord said that they had "a whore's forehead." Nowadays, God's chastisement and judgement can be seen through the pestilences and natural disasters in this ungodly world. However, many do not see God's chastisement, nor fear Him, nor come back to Him in repentance! They blame "the climate change" for all natural disasters, and try to use green energy for prevention, without repentance! Only God, not men, is in control over all things, even the climate and natural disasters!
3. Worshiping the LORD with Their Lips While Their Heart Is Far Away from the LORD
Jeremiah 3:4 Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My father, thou art the guide of my youth? 5 Will he reserve his anger for ever? will he keep it to the end? Behold, thou hast spoken and done evil things as thou couldest.
They turned to idolatry and their heart was far away from God, so they could not confess God as their Father intimately and reverently. They did not remember His guidance and deliverance in the past. They did not care whether God was angry against their sins and idolatry when natural disasters came. Moreover, they spoke and did evil things as much as they could! The Lord Jesus rebuked His people in His days, "This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. 9 But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men" (Matthew 15:8-9). Many churches today are like that! What about us!
4. Not Fearing God in Repentance When Seeing His Chastisement upon Others
Jeremiah 3:6 The LORD said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot. 7 And I said after she had done all these things, Turn thou unto me. But she returned not. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it. 8 And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also. 10 And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the LORD. 11 And the LORD said unto me, The backsliding Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah.
Jeremiah ministered God's Word to the people of Judah in the 13th year under king Josiah's reign (about 627 BC), about 95 years after the northern kingdom of Israel had been taken in captivity to Assyria in 722 BC. Thus, the old generation of Judah under the ministry of the prophet Isaiah were the eyewitnesses to the Israel's captivity, and the generation of Judah under the ministry of the prophet Jeremiah knew about that very well because there was no more kingdom of Israel in their days. The LORD used Jeremiah to remind the people of Judah that:
(1) Israel was chastised for their backsliding and idolatry.
(2) Israel was chastised due to their refusal to return to the Lord in repentance despite God's calling and warning through His prophets (like Elijah, Elisha, Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, and Micah).
(3) The righteous Lord does not condone sins, so He put Israel away, gave her a bill of divorce; that means they were taken out of the Promised Land in their captivity to Assyria.
(4) However, the treacherous (Hebrew bagad means unfaithful, deceitful, and traitorous) sister Judah did not fear.
(5) Judah turned to idolatry also.
(6) Judah did not turn to the Lord sincerely with her whole heart.
(7) The backsliding Israel justified herself more than treacherous Judah because Judah had the temple of God in Jerusalem, with the Book of the law, the high priests, the priests, the Levites, the Lord's prophets, some good kings, etc. However, Judah only worshipped the LORD with her lips while her heart was for false gods and idols, forsaking the LORD, the Fountain of living waters! She was unfaithful, deceitful and traitorous!
Many professing Christians nowadays are also doing the same. They go to church to worship God on Sunday, but their heart is full of themselves, worldliness and idolatry, far away from the Lord. They do not fear God nor return to Him sincerely with their whole heart in repentance even when they see God's chastisement upon others. What about us?
RETURN TO THE LORD
The LORD graciously sent Jeremiah to call His people, both backsliding Israel and treacherous Judah, to come back to Himself alone, not to Jeremiah or anyone else. The Holy Spirit still reminds us to return to the LORD today.
1. Return to the LORD, for He is merciful and will not keep anger for ever
Jeremiah 3:12 Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the LORD; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the LORD, and I will not keep anger for ever.
2. Return to the LORD, for He is married to us and will grant us pastors according to His heart
Jeremiah 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: 15 And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.
3. Return to the LORD, for He will heal our backsliding
Jeremiah 3:22 Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the LORD our God.
THE LORD'S WORD OF PROMISE AND COMFORT
God has promised to restore Israel including Judah in His Kingdom of peace when the Lord Jesus comes:
Jeremiah 3:16 And it shall come to pass, when ye be multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, saith the LORD, they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of the LORD: neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither shall they visit it; neither shall that be done any more. 17 At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart. 18 In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers. 19 But I said, How shall I put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations? and I said, Thou shalt call me, My father; and shalt not turn away from me.
1. They will be multiplied and increased (v 16)
2. They will not need the ark of the covenant (v 16) because the Lord will be with them physically.
3. Jerusalem will be the throne of the LORD and the capital of the world (v 17)
4. All the nations will come to worship the LORD in Jerusalem (v 17)
5. They will not walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart (v 17). When the Lord returns visibly, "And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob " (Romans 11:26)
6. Judah and Israel will be back to the Promised Land, the inheritance the Lord has given to their fathers (v 18). This promise has been fulfilled before our eyes.
7. They will call the LORD, "My father" and not forsaking Him anymore (v 19)
PROPER ATTITUDE
1. Trust in the Lord's love, grace, mercy and His open arm of warm welcome (Jeremiah 3:12; Luke 15:20).
2. Wisely return to the Lord Himself alone like the prodigal son (Luke 15:18-20)
3. Acknowledge our sins and shortcomings and ask the Lord to forgive and cleanse them (Psalm 51; 1 John 1:9)
4. Ask the Lord to heal our backsliding so that we shall not depart from the Lord and His Word any more.
5. Worship and serve the Lord alone faithfully according to His Word until He comes back.
We still live in this ungodly world with so many worries, troubles, distractions, temptations, and so on. May God help us wholeheartedly return to Him and His Word in prayer whenever the Holy Spirit reminds us to do so. A
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