Day 194: How important is truth? - Jeremiah 7 vs 20 – 29

21-23 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Go ahead, add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices and eat the meat yourselves! For when I brought your ancestors out of Egypt and spoke to them, I did not just give them commands about burnt offerings and sacrifices, but I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in obedience to all I command you, that it may go well with you.” 

24-26 But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts. They went backward and not forward. From the time your ancestors left Egypt until now, day after day, again and again I sent you my servants the prophets. But they did not listen to me or pay attention. They were stiff-necked and did more evil than their ancestors.”

27-28 “When you tell them all this, they will not listen to you; when you call to them, they will not answer. Therefore say to them, ‘This is the nation that has not obeyed the Lord its God or responded to correction. Truth has perished; it has vanished from their lips.'”

29 “Cut off your hair and throw it away; take up a lament on the barren heights, for the Lord has rejected and abandoned this generation that is under his wrath.” Jeremiah 7:21-29 New International Version

What is the worst thing that can happen to any nation? War, famine, pandemics? Terrible as these all are, I think what God says happened to Israel is the worst thing of all. What was that? (vs 27-28)

Truth had died – it had vanished from their lips and from the land. When a country (or even an individual) continues to run after things that God hates, there comes a time when they are no longer able to recognize truth and end up believing a lie and being deceived. The apostle Paul wrote of someone whom called 'the man of lawlessness'. And this is what Paul said about him: “This man will come to do the work of Satan with counterfeit power and signs and miracles. He will use every kind of evil deception to fool those on their way to destruction, because they refuse to love and accept the truth that would save them. So God will cause them to be greatly deceived, and they will believe these lies. Then they will be condemned for enjoying evil rather than believing the truth.” 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12

Now whether Paul was speaking of his generation or an Antichrist figure who would come later is not the issue here. The point is that when men and women love evil and want nothing to do with God, they end up being deceived by Satan's lies. Truth has been destroyed.

But notice, it doesn't mean they were not religious any more. But what did God say about their religious activity? (vs 21-23)

They were still carrying out many of the religious rituals that Moses taught them. But God says they had missed the point. He had never really desired those rituals. They were given to remind the people that He is holy and they needed forgiveness. What God really longed for was that they should live out the truth He had shown them. But how had they responded? (vs 24-26)

They paid no attention and persisted in doing wrong. They even resisted the many prophets God sent to remind them of His ways. So in vs 29 God tells Jeremiah to shave his hair (probably symbolic of a mourner) and to do what people do when someone has died. As Christians we follow the one who said of himself “I AM the way, the truth and the life”. So when Paul wrote to Timothy, the man who was to continue the work of caring for the Church, he said: “Hold on to the pattern of wholesome teaching you learned from me - a pattern shaped by the faith and love that you have in Christ Jesus. Through the power of the Holy Spirit who lives within us, carefully guard the precious truth that has been entrusted to you.” 2 Timothy 1:13-14. May that be the earnest desire of our heart too.