26 The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?  28-30 Therefore, thus says the Lord: Behold, I am giving this city into the hands of the Chaldeans and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall capture it. The Chaldeans who are fighting against this city shall come and set this city on fire and burn it, with the houses on whose roofs offerings have been made to Baal and drink offerings have been poured out to other gods, to provoke me to anger. For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have done nothing but evil in my sight from their youth. The children of Israel have done nothing but provoke me to anger by the work of their hands, declares the Lord. 

31-33 This city has aroused my anger and wrath, from the day it was built to this day, so that I will remove it from my sight because of all the evil of the children of Israel and the children of Judah that they did to provoke me to anger - their kings and their officials, their priests and their prophets, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. They have turned to me their back and not their face. And though I have taught them  persistently, they have not listened to receive instruction. 34-35 They set up their abominations in the house that is called by my name, to defile it. They built the high places of Baal in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom to offer up their sons and daughters to Molech,  though I did not command them, nor did it enter into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin. Jeremiah 32:26 -35 (English Standard Version)

In verses 16-17 Jeremiah had said to God “Ah, Lord God, it's you who made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you!” It seems he was putting his faith into action in believing that God had the power to restore Jerusalem after the Babylonians destroyed it. And in vs 26 God confirms what Jeremiah had said. But in His reply, He first states again why He was allowing Nebuchadnezzar to plunder Jerusalem in the first place.

Verses 28-30 describe a picture of how the flat topped houses of the city had been used for offerings to the false pagan gods. This had stirred up God's righteous anger, just as a man would be provoked by a wife's adultery. Verses 31-33 tell how the people had turned their backs on God, and verses 34-35 describe how they had set up idols in God's temple and even gone as far as building an altar in a local valley to sacrifice children! All of this appalled God who said He had never commanded such sacrifices. But did the opening words of vs 31 strike you?

God said of Jerusalem “This city has aroused my anger and wrath, from the day it was built to this day!” That's quite astounding. What could be the reason? It could be because Jerusalem was originally built by pagans who had always rejected the only true God. It could be that Israel was not meant to move God's Sanctuary from a place called Shiloh where He first led them to set it up. It could be because Solomon, who completed building the city, began to offer sacrifices to other gods. So from the city's earliest days many inhabitants had drifted into pagan ways. Whatever the reason, we see that God saw Jerusalem as a place of constant rebellion.

Is there not a solemn lesson here? God permitted Jerusalem, and the Temple that was built there, to be symbols of His presence. But a true relationship with God doesn't rest in symbols and ceremonies, but in heartfelt love and obedience. Even today, we're not called to be enamoured with Jerusalem as a city, but our love ought to be for fellow believers who are citizens of the new Jerusalem. The apostle John wrote: “I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem,  coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.  And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will  dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.'” (Revelation 21:1-3) May all who belong to Christ not provoke God by behaviour that is unworthy of this true Jerusalem to which they belong!