Jer 8:1-11 They… say Peace, Peace, When There is no Peace

[Study Aired May 2, 2021]

Jer 8:1  At that time, saith the LORD, they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of his princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves:
Jer 8:2  And they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the host of heaven, whom they have loved, and whom they have served, and after whom they have walked, and whom they have sought, and whom they have worshipped: they shall not be gathered, nor be buried; they shall be for dung upon the face of the earth.
Jer 8:3  And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue of them that remain of this evil family, which remain in all the places whither I have driven them, saith the LORD of hosts.
Jer 8:4  Moreover thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD; Shall they fall, and not arise? shall he turn away, and not return?
Jer 8:5  Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return.
Jer 8:6 I hearkened and heard, but they spake not aright: no man repented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? every one turned to his course, as the horse rusheth into the battle.
Jer 8:7  Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the LORD.
Jer 8:8  How do ye say, We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us? Lo, certainly in vain made he it; the pen of the scribes is in vain.
Jer 8:9  The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken: lo, they have rejected the word of the LORD; and what wisdom is in them?
Jer 8:10  Therefore will I give their wives unto others, and their fields to them that shall inherit them: for every one from the least even unto the greatest is given to covetousness, from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely.
Jer 8:11  For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.

As we learned in our last study, the Lord does nothing except He reveals His secret to His prophets:

Amo 3:6  Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?
Amo 3:7  Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.
Amo 3:8  The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord GOD hath spoken, who can but prophesy?

There is evil in the city, and the Lord has done it, and He wants us to be aware of that fact.

The first three verses of this 8^th chapter must be read in the context of the last verses of the preceding chapter if we are to understand who ‘they’ are:

Jer 7:30  For the children of Judah have done evil in my sight, saith the LORD: they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to pollute it.
Jer 7:31  And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded  them not, neither came it into my heart.
Jer 7:32  Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall no more be called Tophet, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter: for they shall bury in Tophet, till there be no place.
Jer 7:33  And the carcases of this people shall be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth; and none shall fray them away.
Jer 7:34  Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride: for the land shall be desolate.

These verses reveal that the Lord Himself is giving an occasion to send the armies of our enemies against us. Put these verses together with:

Jer 8:19  Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people because of them that dwell in a far country:  Is not the LORD in Zion? is not her king in her? Why have they provoked me to anger with their graven images, and with strange vanities?

Outwardly, we are being given a history lesson of why the Lord sent the King of Babylon to destroy Jerusalem, the capital of Judah, along with all the “daughters of Jerusalem” …all the cities of Judah.

While we must learn of the outward history of the Lord’s symbolic ‘chosen’ people, if He is giving us eyes to see and ears to hear, we will be granted to apply every word of this history lesson within ourselves as the Lord’s chosen people who have been made to see ourselves as “chief of sinners” being judged in this present time via our experience of having been conquered and ransacked by the spiritual king of Babylon. This ‘king’ has ruthlessly taken our most sacred treasures and our most honored idols, symbolized by the bones of the kings of Judah and the bones of the prophets of Judah, and has simply ransacked their graves seeking only the physical wealth which we have placed in their graves. Their bones and graves are the idols of our hearts which we hold dear and to which we hold fast. Babylon has no respect or concern for us. All she wants is what we can physically give her just as ruthlessly as the physical Babylonians dug up and looted all the graves of all the kings and prophets of Judah.

Here is an excerpt from Josephus’ Antiquities of the Jews, chapter 15 paragraph 3, which gives us some insight into why the graves of kings and prophets would be looted by a conquering army:

“3. He was buried by his son Solomon, in Jerusalem, with great magnificence, and with all the other funeral pomp which kings used to be buried with; moreover, he had great and immense wealth buried with him, the vastness of which may be easily conjectured at by what I shall now say; for a thousand and three hundred years afterward Hyrcanus the high priest, when he was besieged by Antiochus, that was called the Pious, the son of Demetrius, and was desirous of giving him money to get him to raise the siege and draw off his army, and having no other method of compassing the money, opened one room of David’s sepulcher, and took out three thousand talents, and gave part of that sum to Antiochus; and by this means caused the siege to be raised, as we have informed the reader elsewhere. Nay, after him, and that many years, Herod the king opened another room, and took away a great deal of money, and yet neither of them came at the coffins of the kings themselves, for their bodies were buried under the earth so artfully, that they did not appear to even those that entered into their monuments. But so much shall suffice us to have said concerning these matters.” (End Quote)

It all happened to them, but it is written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the ages have come (1Co 10:11). It all serves to make us to see how used and abused we are while clinging fast to all the idols of our Babylonian hearts.

Throughout scripture, the Lord denounces our sins and transgressions for the destructive force they are. He also makes it very clear why we commit all those sins and transgressions:

Rom 9:13  As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
Rom 9:14  What shall we say then? Is there  unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
Rom 9:15  For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
Rom 9:16  So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
Rom 9:17  For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
Rom 9:18  Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.

“[The Lord] hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and He has hardened their hearts, that they cannot understand.”

Isa 44:18  They have not known nor understood: for he [the Lord] hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand.

Then the Lord’s prophets are given the thankless task of telling His blinded and deaf people of His words of judgment which they cannot see or hear.

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:

“Smooth things” equate to “deceits”. If we come to the Lord’s word with an idol of our heart and the stubborn self-righteousness of our own iniquity in our already made-up mind, then we will not even want to hear “right things”. The only thing we will settle for is lies which make life easier for us in this world. Today’s study tells us what some of those “deceits” are that make it easier for us to fit into this world system:

Jer 8:1  At that time, saith the LORD, they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of his princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves:
Jer 8:2  And they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the host of heaven, whom they have loved, and whom they have served, and after whom they have walked, and whom they have sought, and whom they have worshipped: they shall not be gathered, nor be buried; they shall be for dung upon the face of the earth.
Jer 8:3  And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue of them that remain of this evil family, which remain in all the places whither I have driven them, saith the LORD of hosts.

‘Spreading the bones of the priests and the prophets and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem before the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven, whom we have loved’ is the same as knowing Christ in the flesh, and celebrating Christ in the flesh, while we are commanded that we are not to know Him any longer “after the flesh”.  We are told that we are still in bondage if we continue to celebrate ‘days, months, times, and years’. It is the celebration of Christ in the flesh and the deification of saints, which is an abomination to the Lord, as Christ made so clear:

Mat 23:29  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,
Mat 23:30  And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
Mat 23:31  Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.
Mat 23:32  Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.

Our false doctrines and idols of our hearts – doctrines like free will, salvation by works, and eternal torment in literal flames of literal fire – are ruthless Babylonian conquerors who have no compassion or concern for our mental or spiritual wellbeing. We cannot choose to do good, and it torments us while we believe that our sins are of our own free will.

Indeed, we all ‘fill up the measure of our fathers’, and it is precious few who are granted to repent of doing so in this present time.

Jer 8:4  Moreover thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD; Shall they fall, and not arise? shall he turn away, and not return?
Jer 8:5  Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return.

Why do we as individuals ‘perpetually backslide and hold fast’ to things we know will produce our own destruction? Why do we continue in sins and transgressions we know are robbing us of our own birthright and harming those who are dearest to us? Why would anyone act so irrationally? There is just one reason in the final analysis:

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.

Pro 16:4  The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

Isa 44:18  They have not known nor understood: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand.

Isa 45:6  That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.
Isa 45:7  I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace,  and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

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.

The Lord really did call ancient Israel to be His own special people:

Deu 7:6  For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God:  the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.

This is what we are told of that calling:

Deu 7:9  Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;
Deu 7:10  And repayeth them that hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face.
Deu 7:11  Thou shalt therefore keep the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which I command thee this day, to do them.
Deu 7:12  Wherefore it shall come to pass, if ye hearken to these judgments, and keep, and do them, that the LORD thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant and the mercy which he sware unto thy fathers:

“If ye hearken to these judgments, and keep, and do them… the LORD thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant… Them that love Him… keep His commandments” (Deu 7:9, 12). These words of God here in the Old Testament are the foundation for the same words in the New Testament:

1Jn 5:2  By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.
1Jn 5:3  For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
1Jn 5:4  For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.

There it is in no uncertain terms. The covenant of God with those who are truly His special people is conditional upon them being obedient to His commandments.

This is “the covenant” which the Lord is keeping. It is essential that we notice that this covenant says… “IF ye hearken to these judgments, and keep, and do them, that the LORD thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant …”

Therefore, when we read in the New Testament…

Rom 11:29  For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.

…We must understand that ‘the gifts and calling of God are without repentance’ is not saying ‘without conditions’. All the promises of God are conditional upon obedience to His commandments. Therefore, they are conditional upon “good works”. However, nowhere in scripture – not one time in all the Bible – are we ever told that our obedience and our good works or our salvation depends upon us as the corruptible, the earthy creatures we are made to be. Rather, this is what we are told, and this is what the scriptures proclaim from Genesis to Revelation:

Isa 54:17  No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.

Jer 23:6  In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

Jer 33:16  In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The LORD our righteousness.

Jer 51:10  The LORD hath brought forth our righteousness: come, and let us declare in Zion the work of the LORD our God.

2Pe 1:1  Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:

It is based upon all those verses and many others that Paul could confidently tell us:

Eph 2:4  But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
Eph 2:5  Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved; )
Eph 2:6  And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
Eph 2:7  That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9  Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Eph 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

“By grace ye are saved… by grace through faith”. Grace saves us through faith, and neither are ”of [our]selves” The word grace means:

G5485
χάρις
charis
khar’-ece

From G5463; graciousness (as gratifying), of manner or act (abstract or concrete; literal, figurative or spiritual; especially the divine influence upon the heart, and its reflection in the life; including gratitude): – acceptable, benefit, favour, gift, grace (-ious), joy liberality, pleasure, thank (-s, -worthy).

Grace simply indicates the Lord’s favor upon our life. We were just informed:

Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

Therefore, when the Lord favors us, we are shown His undeserved and certainly unearned ‘grace’, and what exactly does God’s saving grace do for us? This verse is hidden from the eyes and ears of all of us while we are in Babylon with its false doctrines of ‘free will’. This is not what grace is, this is what the Lord’s ‘saving grace’ does within our lives:

Tit 2:11  For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
Tit 2:12  Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

What does God’s grace do in our lives? It teaches us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age. The word translated as ‘world’ is the Greek word aion, and it means ‘an age’. What is so very revealing in verse 12 is the fact that the word translated as ‘teaching’ is:

G3811
παιδεύω
paideuō
pahee-dyoo’-o

From G3816; to train up a child, that is, educate, or (by implication) discipline (by punishment): – chasten (-ise), instruct, learn, teach.

This Greek word means ‘to chastise’. It is the exact same word we find in this verse of scripture, which gives this Greek word a much more accurate translation:

Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth [G3811: paideuo], and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

‘Grace through faith is not of ourselves. It is the gift of God.’ We have and are nothing of ourselves. Not even sinners:

Pro 16:4  The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

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 are His workmanship… saved by grace through faith and that not of ourselves”. Being called and chosen in “this present time” (if we are given by our Lord to “endure to the end”), we are blessed above all men of all time, and yet this, by the Lord’s design and decree, is what we all at first do in spite of being given such a special calling:

Jer 8:6  I hearkened and heard, but they spake not aright: no man repented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? every one turned to his course, as the horse rusheth into the battle.
Jer 8:7  Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the LORD.
Jer 8:8  How do ye say, We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us? Lo, certainly in vain made he it; the pen of the scribes is in vain.
Jer 8:9  The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken: lo, they have rejected the word of the LORD; and what wisdom is in them?

The point being made here is that we all begin with losing our first love, suffering that woman Jezebel to teach us, and allowing Nicolaitans to be our overlords. Satan’s throne is in our very midst, along with those who say they are Jews but are the synagogue of Satan. Those who hold the doctrine of Balaam are among us, and we have a name that we live, when in reality we are spiritually dead. We think that we are rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing when the Truth is that at this stage in our ‘humbling experience of evil’ (Ecc 1:13), we are actually spiritually wretched, miserable, poor and naked (Rev 2 and 3). At this juncture in our experience of evil, we are so spiritually dead that we think this verse of scripture is referring to physical wealth:

Eph 3:16  That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;
Eph 3:17  That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
Eph 3:18  May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
Eph 3:19  And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
Eph 3:20  Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,

Those who see all the words I have emboldened as dollar signs, and are looking to be “the world’s first… Christian… trillionaire” are the poster boys of these verses of scripture:

Rev 3:1  And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art [spiritually] dead.

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:
Rev 3:18  I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.

“Gold tried in the fire” is true wealth. Everything else is worthless by comparison, and that ‘gold’ is the chastening grace of God.

If we are granted to hear what the spirit says to the churches, we will be given to “look behind us and see that the Lord has been judging us in “this present time” (Rom 8:18), and only then will we be brought to our wits’ end and be accepting of our judgment:

Jer 8:10  Therefore will I give their wives unto others, and their fields to them that shall inherit them: for every one from the least even unto the greatest is given to covetousness, from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely.

Our ‘wives’ are our harlot churches, and on a wider scale, ‘wives’ are the world’s religions which at this very moment are being devoured and burned with fire by the secular humanists to whom the Lord for a season is giving the power to do just that:

Rev 17:16  And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.
Rev 17:17  For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.
Rev 17:18  And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

While this is taking place, this is the fruit of the false prophets who speak not right things but speak only deceits:

Jer 8:11  For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.

Isaiah spoke of those who deny that ‘grace chastens us’, and that we ‘reap what we sow’ (Gal 6:7) or that ‘every man will be judged according to His own works’ (Rev 20:14) with these words:

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:

It is true that James tells us that ‘mercy rejoices against judgment’ (Jas 2:13), but that verse in no way whatsoever contradicts:

Gal 6:7  Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

Rev 20:13  And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.

We must disabuse ourselves of the lie of the adversary, and the smooth things which he teaches, telling us that God’s mercy nullifies and cancels out His justice and His judgment. ‘Be not deceived; God is not mocked, whatsoever we sow we will also reap.’

This is what we are told of “Jerusalem” as a type of God’s elect:

Isa 40:2  Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD’S hand double for all her sins.

It is the Lord’s elect who are the first to “read… hear… and keep the sayings” of the book of Revelation:

Rev 1:3  Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

This is one of those sayings which concerns Babylon within each of us:

Rev 18:6  Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.
Rev 18:7  How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.

The book of Revelation is simply reiterating the Lord’s words in Isaiah 40:2. We all reap double what we have sown, and enduring that judgment is the Lord’s mercy which delivers us from an unmerciful death.

Psa 103:12  As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.

Isa 43:25  I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.

Jer 31:34  And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

2Co 5:19  To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

Heb 10:16  This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;
Heb 10:17  And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.

The book of Micah accords with the rest of the Lord’s fiery words:

Mic 7:19  He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.

How can the Lord say He will blot out our transgressions, forgive our iniquities, and forget our sins, and with the same voice declare that we will reap what we sow? How can the Lord tell us that mercy rejoices against judgment, that as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our sins from us; that He will not impute our trespasses to us; that He will cast our sins into the sea, and with the same breath tell us that we will receive double from His hand for our sins and be judged according to our works? How are those two apparently opposing promises made possible?

The answer is that the judgments and the repentance, which is the fruit of judgment, must precede all the positive blessings and promises of mercy and forgiveness. There is not one word in any of the verses I have quoted concerning the Lord’s boundless, ever-enduring mercy and forgiveness which denies or contradicts any of the verses which speak of the justice and judgments pronounced upon the kingdom of our old man. Receiving double for our sins and being judged according to our works precedes but does not contradict any of the Lord’s many blessings of forgiveness and mercy.

Our own wickedness and sins will correct us in this present time if we are the Lord’s elect.

Jer 2:19  Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.

The prodigal son was not without judgment and justice. He was so extremely miserable in his judgment that he was forced to humble himself and ask his father to take him on as a mere “hired servant”.

Luk 15:19  And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.

Physical ‘Jerusalem’ symbolizes the religions of this world, and she is “in bondage with [all] her children”:

Gal 4:21  Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?
Gal 4:22  For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.
Gal 4:23  But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.
Gal 4:24  Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.
Gal 4:25  For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.

This is what the Lord has to say to historical Christianity and to all the religions of this world:

Jer 5:1  Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it.

‘Executing judgment and seeking Truth’ is the exact opposite of:

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:

Later in this prophecy Jeremiah reveals how the Lord, without contradiction, pours out upon us both His judgments and His boundless mercies:

Jer 30:10  Therefore fear thou not, O my servant Jacob, saith the LORD; neither be dismayed, O Israel: for, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid.
Jer 30:11  For I am with thee, saith the LORD, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.
Jer 30:12  For thus saith the LORD, Thy bruise is incurable,  and thy wound is grievous.
Jer 30:13  There is none to plead thy cause, that thou mayest be bound up: thou hast no healing medicines.
Jer 30:14  All thy lovers have forgotten thee; they seek thee not; for I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the multitude of thine iniquity; because thy sins were increased.
Jer 30:15  Why criest thou for thine affliction? thy sorrow is incurable for the multitude of thine iniquity: because thy sins were increased, I have done these things unto thee.
Jer 30:16  Therefore all they that devour thee shall be devoured; and all thine adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity; and they that spoil thee shall be a spoil, and all that prey upon thee will I give for a prey.
Jer 30:17  For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the LORD; because they called thee an Outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after.
Jer 30:18  Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will bring again the captivity of Jacob’s tents, and have mercy on his dwellingplaces; and the city shall be builded upon her own heap, and the palace shall remain after the manner thereof.
Jer 30:19  And out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of them that make merry: and I will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small.

It is when we refuse to acknowledge our own iniquities and transgressions, and when we refuse to acknowledge that the scriptures teach that judgment must precede blessings… It is when we teach that we can be blessed of the Lord while we deny His fiery judgment that we are guilty of the last verse of our study today:

Jer 8:11  For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.

That is our study for today. I pray you were edified by the Word.

Here are our verses for our next study:

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.
Jer 8:18  When I would comfort myself against sorrow, my heart is faint in me.
Jer 8:19  Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people because of them that dwell in a far country: Is not the LORD in Zion? is not her king in her? Why have they provoked me to anger with their graven images, and with strange vanities?
Jer 8:20  The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.
Jer 8:21  For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt; I am black; astonishment hath taken hold on me.
Jer 8:22  Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?