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The Book of Jeremiah – Jer 14:13-22 The Prophets Prophesy Lies in My Name

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Jer 14:13-22 The Prophets Prophesy Lies In My Name

[Study Aired August 1, 2021]

Jer 14:13-Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, the prophets say unto them, Ye shall not see the sword, neither shall ye have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place.
Jer 14:14  Then the LORD said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them: they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their heart.
Jer 14:15  Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that prophesy in my name, and I sent them not, yet they say, Sword and famine shall not be in this land; By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed.
Jer 14:16  And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and they shall have none to bury them, them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters: for I will pour their wickedness upon them.
Jer 14:17  Therefore thou shalt say this word unto them; Let mine eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease: for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach, with a very grievous blow.
Jer 14:18  If I go forth into the field, then behold the slain with the sword! and if I enter into the city, then behold them that are sick with famine! yea, both the prophet and the priest go about into a land that they know not.
Jer 14:19  Hast thou utterly rejected Judah? hath thy soul lothed Zion? why hast thou smitten us, and there is no healing for us? we looked for peace, and there is no good; and for the time of healing, and behold trouble!
Jer 14:20  We acknowledge, O LORD, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers: for we have sinned against thee.
Jer 14:21  Do not abhor us, for thy name’s sake, do not disgrace the throne of thy glory: remember, break not thy covenant with us.
Jer 14:22  Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain? or can the heavens give showers? art not thou he, O LORD our God? therefore we will wait upon thee: for thou hast made all these things.

In our last study, we were reminded of how we have all wandered away from the Lord and His Words:

Jer 14:10  Thus saith the LORD unto this people, Thus have they loved to wander, they have not refrained their feet, therefore the LORD doth not accept them; he will now remember their iniquity, and visit their sins.

When we wander away from the Lord and listen to the false doctrines of false apostles, then all the faithful, who have been down that path before us and have been brought back to the Lord, are instructed:

Jer 14:11  Then said the LORD unto me, Pray not for this people for their good.
Jer 14:12  When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and an oblation, I will not accept them: but I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence.

The Lord is not at all hesitant to let us know who it is that makes us to wander and to err from His ways:

Isa 63:17  O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.

We have all been deceived by idols of our hearts, and again the Lord tells us who was responsible for our deception:

Eze 14:9  And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.

The Mike Vinson who believed in eternal torment as a Pentecostal has been and is being destroyed. The Mike Vinson who believed in keeping the weekly sabbath and the holy days as a member of the World Wide Church of God has been destroyed and is being crucified with Christ, and the Mike Vinson who believed that Christ did everything on the cross and that there is nothing left of His afflictions for me to fill up in my flesh has also been destroyed and is being destroyed from the midst of the Lord’s people as I die daily to all those false and damnable doctrines.

Nevertheless, the Lord wants us to acknowledge our sins and transgressions and our iniquities and remember the pit from where we were dug:

Isa 51:1  Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the LORD: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged.

Jer 3:13  Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD.
Jer 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:

The Lord will indeed deliver His people and bring them to Zion, but He must first put them in bondage. Joseph had to be sold into Egypt, and Israel had to go into Egypt before they could be delivered from Egypt. The Lord tells us that Joseph’s betrayal by his ten brothers was His work and “it was not [their work]”:

Gen 45:4  And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt.
Gen 45:5  Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.
Gen 45:6  For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest.
Gen 45:7  And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
Gen 45:8  So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.

In Ezekiel 14:9 the Lord plainly reveals that when a prophet is deceived, it is because He, the Lord Himself, sent a lying spirit to deceive that prophet, and He hardened the heart of that prophet to keep that prophet from fearing to displease the Lord. That is what is revealed in the story of how the Lord caused Ahab to go up to die at Ramothgilead:

1Ki 22:13  And the messenger that was gone to call Micaiah spake unto him, saying, Behold now, the words of the prophets declare good unto the king with one mouth: let thy word, I pray thee, be like the word of one of them, and speak that which is good.
1Ki 22:14  And Micaiah said, As the LORD liveth, what the LORD saith unto me, that will I speak.
1Ki 22:15  So he came to the king. And the king said unto him, Micaiah, shall we go against Ramothgilead to battle, or shall we forbear? And he answered him, Go, and prosper: for the LORD shall deliver it into the hand of the king.
1Ki 22:16  And the king said unto him, How many times shall I adjure thee that thou tell me nothing but that which is true in the name of the LORD?
1Ki 22:17  And he said, I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills, as sheep that have not a shepherd: and the LORD said, These have no master: let them return every man to his house in peace.
1Ki 22:18  And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, Did I not tell thee that he would prophesy no good concerning me, but evil?
1Ki 22:19  And he said, Hear thou therefore the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left.
1Ki 22:20  And the LORD said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramothgilead? And one said on this manner, and another said on that manner.
1Ki 22:21  And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the LORD, and said, I will persuade him.
1Ki 22:22  And the LORD said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so.
1Ki 22:23  Now therefore, behold, the LORD hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the LORD hath spoken evil concerning thee.

God is called “the Father of spirits” – both the good and the evil spirits:

Heb 12:9  Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?

What a wonderful revelation of how the Lord uses His evil spirits of His adversary to accomplish His purpose of destroying our old man… “The Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these… prophets”.  Ahab’s prophets knew what King Ahab wanted to hear, and that was what they prophesied. The very last thing our flesh wants to hear, and the last thing the kings of this world want to hear is that they will be judged by the Lord for ignoring Him and His Words. So, we prophesy about a secret rapture, a place of safety, or we prophesy that it is all spiritual and inward and there will never be a literal resurrection to life which precedes a resurrection to judgment.

Jer 14:13  Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, the prophets say unto them, Ye shall not see the sword, neither shall ye have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place.

Joh 5:27  And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.
Joh 5:28  Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
Joh 5:29  And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation [Greek: ‘krisis’, judgment]

Inwardly we tell ourselves that God will not judge us, and we will not reap what we have sown and are sowing. “You will not see the sword, neither… have famine” denies that these words are true:

1Co 3:13  Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.

Gal 6:7  Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
Gal 6:8  For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

This lying spirit takes many forms, from the false doctrine of substitutionary atonement to the secret rapture or a place of safety from God’s wrath against our sins. This spirit will even tell us that there is no difference between the first and second resurrection, and therefore there is no need to strive to be in the first resurrection. I have had people come up to me and tell me just that. When I read Revelation 20:6 to them they were so blinded by another false doctrine called ‘the doctrine of two administrations’ that they said those words, “The entire book of Revelation is addressed only to physical Jews.” All these false doctrines are what the scriptures call “smooth things” that appeal to our flesh which abhors the ‘chastening’ of Hebrews 12:6, the fire that tries every man’s works of 1Corinthians 3:13, and the ‘reap what you sow’ of Galatians 6:7:

Isa 30:8  Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever:
Isa 30:9  That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD:
Isa 30:10  Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:

The Lord warns us:

Jer 14:14  Then the LORD said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them: they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their heart.

All false doctrines are “the deceit of [our] heart”, and Christ amplifies our understanding of who “the prophets [who] prophesy lies in [His] name” are when He tells us:

Mat 24:5  For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.

While the original apostles were still alive, the apostle John confirmed these words of Christ when he wrote:

1Jn 4:1  Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

Before the apostle John died, some of the very people he had led to Christ were casting the people John sent to them out of the church:

3Jn 1:9  I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not.
3Jn 1:10  Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the church.

The apostle Paul began to witness the apostasy of the very churches Christ had used him to establish. He even named two of the first apostates in his first epistle to Timothy:

1Ti 1:19  Holding faith, and a good conscience;  which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck:
1Ti 1:20  Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.

In his second epistle to Timothy, the apostle Paul reveals that the apostasy of all the churches of Asia, which would include the seven churches of Revelation 2-3, had already occurred while he was yet in prison in Rome. Paul names several more of the leaders of the apostasy:

2Ti 1:15  This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me; of whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes.

In this second epistle to Timothy, Paul warned him of some within the church who were already “subverting… the hearers”, revealing the names of more of the original apostates:

2Ti 2:14  Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers.

2Ti 2:17  And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus;
2Ti 2:18  Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some.

This “deceit of [the] heart” of Hymenaeus and Philetus is the very deceit which took so many out of our fellowship. It is true that we are inwardly being raised up with Christ, as our old man dies day by day:

Rom 6:4  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Being inwardly in the process of dying with and being resurrected with Christ does not change the fact that those in the first resurrection will first outwardly relinquish these bodies of flesh and blood (1Co 15:50) before they will be granted to rule the earth with Christ for “a thousand years”. The spiritual process of dying daily while our old man is being destroyed and replaced by a new man does not provide the saviors of the “ungodly and sinners” who are not being called in this age. The vast multitudes of mankind have never heard of or known the Christ of scripture. As the Lord’s elect, we are to be the saviors of this world through a resurrection which has not yet taken place while we are yet clothed in these clay vessels:

2Co 5:1  For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
2Co 5:2  For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven:
2Co 5:3  If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked.
2Co 5:4  For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.
2Co 5:5  Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.
2Co 5:6  Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:
2Co 5:7  (For we walk by faith, not by [physical] sight: )
2Co 5:8  We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
2Co 5:9  Wherefore we labour, that, whether present [in a physical body] or absent [from a physical body], we may be accepted of him.
2Co 5:10  For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.

Look at how Strong’s defines the word translated as ‘absent’ in these verses:

This word ekdemeo is a compound of G1537 and G1218. Let’s look at these two words and see if we can understand what Paul is telling us when he writes that if we are present in these physical bodies, we are absent from Christ:

There is the meaning of the Greek word G1553, ekdemeo, translated here as ‘absent’.

It means ‘out’ or ‘away from… people’. It means out of these physical, earthly… vessels of clay. It most definitely does not mean that Christ is not in us, nor does it mean that we will not be in the first resurrection as long as Christ is within us in this present time. Insisting that when Paul said that being “absent from Christ” while in these clay vessels means that Christ is not in us, or that we cannot know Him while we are in this physical body, is just one more false doctrine which will lead one to think that “Ye shall not surely die”, ‘you have an immortal soul which will be with Christ when you are absent from this body’. That is but another false doctrine.

Ecc 9:5  For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.

Joh 11:11  These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.

Joh 11:14  Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.

This is the fate which awaits all false prophets who are teaching that there is a way to avoid the Lord’s judgments:

Jer 14:15  Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that prophesy in my name, and I sent them not, yet they say, Sword and famine shall not be in this land; By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed.
Jer 14:16  And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and they shall have none to bury them, them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters: for I will pour their wickedness upon them.

By the sword of God’s Word, of which they are so lacking, in a spiritual famine those prophets shall be consumed, and all who follow their famished and starving lies will receive the same fate.

Ezekiel repeats this prophecy of God Himself deceiving us and then judging us for believing the lies of the false prophets He sends to deceive us:

Eze 14:1  Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat before me.
Eze 14:2  And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Eze 14:3  Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them?
Eze 14:4  Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols;
Eze 14:5  That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols. [Their false doctrines]
Eze 14:6  Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations.
Eze 14:7  For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger that sojourneth in Israel, which separateth himself from me, and setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to a prophet to enquire of him concerning me; I the LORD will answer him by myself: [Self-righteously thinking that his lies are as nourishing as the Lord’s Truths]
Eze 14:8  And I will set my face against that man, and will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
Eze 14:9  And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.
Eze 14:10  And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity: the punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeketh unto him;
Eze 14:11  That the house of Israel may go no more astray from me, neither be polluted any more with all their transgressions; but that they may be my people, and I may be their God, saith the Lord GOD.

Putting all these verses together we have “The Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these… prophets” (1Kgs 22:23), the Lord first formed us of “marred… clay” (Jer 18:4). He made us all “corruption” (1Co 15:50), He put “the law of sin in [our] members” (Rom 7:23), and He does all of this because He has ordained that He must give Himself the necessary “occasion” He is seeking (Jdg 14:4), to destroy our “man of sin” and replace him with “a new man… Christ in [us] the hope of glory” (Col 1:27) :

Jer 14:17  Therefore thou shalt say this word unto them; Let mine eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease: for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach, with a very grievous blow.

This being “broken with a great breach” is believing the lies of the prophets who have prophesied lies which the Lord did not send them to prophesy (vs 13-14). We live our lives by what we believe, and when we believe a lie, we “[are] broken with a great break [and] with a very grievous blow”, and if we are not granted repentance in “this present time” we will be damned to the great white throne judgment/lake of fire/second death:

2Th 2:11  And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
2Th 2:12  That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

God is orchestrating everything including “the preparations of our “deceitful” hearts:

Pro 16:1  The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD.

Jer 17:9  The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

It was the Lord who gave us our “deceitful… heart”, and He did so for the very purpose of giving Himself the “occasion” He is seeking to judge our sinful flesh and declare it unfit for the kingdom of heaven. As He tells us in the very next verse of:

Jer 17:10  I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and  according to the fruit of his doings.

This is what we get for our ways, and this is the fruit of our doing:

Jer 14:18  If I go forth into the field, then behold the slain with the sword! and if I enter into the city, then behold them that are sick with famine! yea, both the prophet and the priest go about into a land that they know not.

“The field” is the secular world which hates the great harlot, and “the city” is the great whore herself, “the great city wherein our Lord was crucified”:

Rev 11:8  And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.

It is the Lord Himself who closes in on us and presses us on every side. Even our enemies are His servants to effectuate our chastening and scourging (Heb 12:6):

Jer 8:12  Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore shall they fall among them that fall: in the time of their visitation they shall be cast down, saith the LORD.
Jer 8:13  I will surely consume them, saith the LORD: there shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; and the things that I have given them shall pass away from them.
Jer 8:14  Why do we sit still? assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the defenced cities, and let us be silent there: for the LORD our God hath put us to silence, and given us water of gall to drink, because we have sinned against the LORD.
Jer 8:15  We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of health, and behold trouble!
Jer 8:16  The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan: the whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones; for they are come, and have devoured the land, and all that is in it; the city, and those that dwell therein.
Jer 8:17  For, behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you, saith the LORD.

Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

In His chastening of us, our enemies become the Lord’s servants:

Jer 27:6  And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him.

It is important to understand that while we are in bondage in Babylon, we do not perceive that we are mere slaves of a whore. We think we are the captains of the fate of our own souls and that we are “rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing”:

Rev 3:17  Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:

We think we are so blessed by God that we are able to do many wonderful works of kindness to our fellow man, and therefore God should be pleased with us, and when He sends His prophets to show us our own self-righteousness, and tell us that we have not obeyed His words, then just like Job and later, King Saul, we maintain our  own righteousness, and in the process of doing so, we find ourselves to be reproving, contending with and condemning our own Maker to make ourselves appear righteous:

Job 27:2  As God liveth, who hath taken away my judgment; and the Almighty, who hath vexed my soul;

Job 27:5  God forbid that I should justify you: till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me.
Job 27:6  My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.
Job 27:7  Let mine enemy be as the wicked, and he that riseth up against me as the unrighteous.

Eze 33:13  When I shall say to the righteous, that he shall surely live; if he trust to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity, all his righteousnesses shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity that he hath committed, he shall die for it.

Like King Saul, we want to obey the Lord to the degree we are comfortable serving and obeying Him. But God does not tolerate rebellion against His Words. Keeping some of His Words does not qualify as obedience:

1Sa 15:13  And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the LORD: I have performed the commandment of the LORD.
1Sa 15:14  And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?
1Sa 15:15  And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.
1Sa 15:16  Then Samuel said unto Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee what the LORD hath said to me this night. And he said unto him, Say on.
1Sa 15:17  And Samuel said, When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the LORD anointed thee king over Israel?
1Sa 15:18  And the LORD sent thee on a journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed.
1Sa 15:19  Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the LORD, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the LORD?
1Sa 15:20  And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and have gone the way which the LORD sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.
1Sa 15:21  But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God in Gilgal.
1Sa 15:22  And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.
1Sa 15:23  For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.

Partial self-righteous obedience is the same as “witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry” and is rewarded with our rejection of the Lord.

Jer 14:19  Hast thou utterly rejected Judah? hath thy soul lothed Zion? why hast thou smitten us, and there is no healing for us? we looked for peace, and there is no good; and for the time of healing, and behold trouble!

“Why have you smitten us, and is there no healing for us?” is answered in the previous chapter:

Jer 13:22  And if thou say in thine heart, Wherefore come these things upon me? For the greatness of thine iniquity are thy skirts discovered, and thy heels made bare.

God’s judgments are intended to bring us to repentance and a humble acknowledgement of our rebellious spirit:

Jer 3:13  Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD.
Jer 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:
Jer 3:15  And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.

When we are obedient to these words and we are granted heartfelt repentance, it is in the Lord’s heart to give us pastors who will feed us with His words and remind us of His righteous judgments.

Jer 14:20  We acknowledge, O LORD, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers: for we have sinned against thee.
Jer 14:21  Do not abhor us, for thy name’s sake, do not disgrace the throne of thy glory: remember, break not thy covenant with us.
Jer 14:22  Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain? or can the heavens give showers? art not thou he, O LORD our God? therefore we will wait upon thee: for thou hast made all these things.

“The vanities of the Gentiles” are all the false doctrines and lies we believe instead of the words of God. ‘Rain’ signifies the truth of the Word of God which produces nourishing spiritual food which the lies and “vanities of the Gentiles” can never produce within us.

The rains come out of heaven, but the heavens within us are being created by God, and of themselves they produce nothing:

Gen 1:1  In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

Joh 15:5  I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

Here is a link to an article which shows what and where the heavens of the scriptures are:
What and Where is Heaven?

We are blessed to know to “wait upon [the Lord who] made all these things” and who alone can and will meet and provide our ‘rain’ and our every need. “We will wait upon thee: for thou hast made all these things.”

We will close this study with this confirming verse from the apostle Paul:

Php 4:19  But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

That is our study for today. Here are our verses for our next study:

Jer 15:1  Then said the LORD unto me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind could not be toward this people: cast them out of my sight, and let them go forth.
Jer 15:2  And it shall come to pass, if they say unto thee, Whither shall we go forth? then thou shalt tell them, Thus saith the LORD; Such as are for death, to death; and such as are  for the sword, to the sword; and such as are for the famine, to the famine; and such as are for the captivity, to the captivity.
Jer 15:3  And I will appoint over them four kinds, saith the LORD: the sword to slay, and the dogs to tear, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the earth, to devour and destroy.
Jer 15:4  And I will cause them to be removed into all kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem.
Jer 15:5  For who shall have pity upon thee, O Jerusalem? or who shall bemoan thee? or who shall go aside to ask how thou doest?
Jer 15:6  Thou hast forsaken me, saith the LORD, thou art gone backward: therefore will I stretch out my hand against thee, and destroy thee; I am weary with repenting.
Jer 15:7  And I will fan them with a fan in the gates of the land; I will bereave them of children, I will destroy my people, since they return not from their ways.
Jer 15:8  Their widows are increased to me above the sand of the seas: I have brought upon them against the mother of the young men a spoiler at noonday: I have caused him to fall upon it suddenly, and terrors upon the city.
Jer 15:9  She that hath borne seven languisheth: she hath given up the ghost; her sun is gone down while it was yet day: she hath been ashamed and confounded: and the residue of them will I deliver to the sword before their enemies, saith the LORD.

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