Truth and Consequences:
Lesson Seven (of 52): False Worship
INTRODUCTION
Today’s chapter is spoken in a relocation. For the last few chapters, the weeping prophet Jeremiah has been addressing the Jewish people from an undisclosed location. Today he is ordered by God to relocate and set up his preaching station at the gate outside the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. Not in the Temple himself, even though he is a son of a priest, think of it as the Damascus Gate for those who have been there.
I don’t know which gate was appointed, as there were six gates by the time of first century Jerusalem including 1) The Dung Gate (part of the southern wall near the city of David leading to the Hinnom Valley), 2) Tekoa Gate which led a traveller in the direction of Tekoa. 3) The Essene Gate was located in the southwestern corner and it led into the area of the Essene Quarter. 4) the Joppa Gate was the busiest gate and it led toward Joppa. (By the way, the Gate Beautiful (Acts 3) is that gate. Joppa means ‘beautiful.’) The three mighty towers stood near the Joppa Gate. 5) The Damascus Gate or more properly the Shechem Gate was very beautiful located along the second wall. And finally 6) The Eastern Gate (Susa Gate) was located on the eastern wall leading into the Kidron Valley and the Mount of Olives.
At whichever gate, Jeremiah was stationed, the prophecy of chapter 7 takes place there.
Remember what the gate does and what it represents. It’s there that the City Council would sit and make rulings that were of consequence to the citizens. It’s there that tolls were collected and money was both negotiated and exchanged. The Department of the Treasury has its roots there at the gate. The military had its headquarters there, of course, as the gate would be shut by them if an invasion occurred and they also set up watchmen on the walls, and the gates were the CenterPoint for their reporting. Tourists came and went; it was the place of welcome or rejection and the first impression of any city.
What will God speak through his prophet today? And what about the next few chapters? Let me tell you the next four chapters form a single sermon, and I apologize for breaking it into fourths. But this way we can seriously consider the message, for ourselves. The main themes of Jeremiah, as we have said, are truth and consequences. And this four-fold sermon deals with that first theme in the converse.
The titles of the next four chapters could be “False worship,” “False prophets,” “false confidence,” and finally “False gods.”
So today, “False worship.”
Let’s dig into this chapter and hear, really hear, what God is saying to our people. And Jeremiah will list several things that do us no good at all.
1. Our worship does us no good (.1-15)
Luck. Good luck charms. Amulets. Hamsa necklaces. Have you ever seen Rafael Nadal walk onto a tennis court? Have you ever watched him go through his routines of walking, not touching any lines, lining up his beverages just so? He has superstitious mechanics of moving his hair, adjusting his shorts, and bouncing the ball just before he serves. The patterns probably help him to concentrate on what matters, but to many of us who are not so locked in, those self-detailings are a bit much.
Look, I have people who come into our shop who want to buy a hamsa for good luck. They have a relative who is having a tough time, and they want to send the hamsa as a favour for their mate. I really appreciate the love that one has for the other, but a hamsa is nothing more than a cursed talisman which will not aid anyone. How do I know that?
Both Isaiah and Ezekiel blast those whose hopes were linked with something like that.
“But these two things will come on you suddenly in one day: loss of children and widowhood. They will come on you in full measure In spite of your many sorceries, In spite of the great power of your spells. You felt secure in your wickedness and said, ‘No one sees me,’ your wisdom and your knowledge, they have deluded you; for you have said in your heart, ‘I am, and there is no one besides me.’ But evil will come on you which you will not know how to charm away; and disaster will fall on you for which you cannot atone; and destruction about which you do not know will come on you suddenly.
Stand fast now in your spells and in your many sorceries with which you have labored from your youth; Perhaps you will be able to profit, perhaps you may cause trembling. You are wearied with your many counsels; Let now the astrologers, Those who prophesy by the stars, Those who predict by the new moons, Stand up and save you from what will come upon you. Behold, they have become like stubble, Fire burns them; They cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame; There will be no coal to warm by Nor a fire to sit before! So have those become to you with whom you have labored, Who have trafficked with you from your youth; Each has wandered in his own way; There is none to save you. (Isaiah 47.9-15)
The charms and the false preachers, the astrologers and the sorcerers will not save us. They are utterly false.
“Thus says the Lord God: Woe to the women who sew magic bands upon all wrists, and make veils for the heads of persons of every stature, in the hunt for souls! Will you hunt down souls belonging to my people and keep your own souls alive?... Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against your magic bands with which you hunt the souls like birds, and I will tear them from your arms, and I will let the souls whom you hunt go free, the souls like birds.” (Ezekiel 13.18-20)
Here in chapter 7 of Jeremiah, we see the people hiding behind the Temple, as if it were a magical ‘home’ in a celestial game of tag. God’s anger was raging against the Jewish people, as we continually rejected his sovereignty and made our own rules. We trusted in the worship that was taking place in Jerusalem, as if the sacrifices and prayers, the choirs and pronouncements there were capable of washing over us. Our sins were front and centre, and the name-drop of the Temple was useless. The problem was false worship.
The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, “Stand in the gate of the LORD’S house and proclaim there this word and say, ‘Hear the word of the LORD, all you of Judah, who enter by these gates to worship the LORD!’” (Jeremiah 7.1-2)
To worship. … לְהִֽשְׁתַּחֲוֹ֖ת לַיהוָֽה to bow down. This isn’t just popping in to sing in church. This is visible and personal. We bow; perhaps all the way down!
“Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place.” (verse 3)
The word for ‘amend’ is at its root the word ‘Tov’ meaning, ‘Make good’ your ways. That’s fairly simple. You were wrong. You were doing “NO GOOD” and now, turn around, do good. Verse 5 tells us, “practice justice”, “don’t oppress the less fortunate” and “don’t worship false gods” All those and we win; we can live in the land. But we don’t make good. What we are doing is ‘not good.”
Just because we had a Temple didn’t mean we were secure, as is evidenced in 586 BCE at the tail end of Jeremiah’s prophecies. The Babylonians will destroy our Temple and we see that same narrative playing out in 70 CE under Rome. Hiding behind the religion of our people never cuts it with the Almighty.
Here’s how Jeremiah records this:
“Behold, you are trusting in deceptive words to no avail. Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery and swear falsely, and offer sacrifices to Baal and walk after other gods that you have not known, then come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’ — that you may do all these abominations?” (7.8-10)
God blasts us for breaking at least five of the Ten Commandments then hiding in the Temple as if it’s our Safe Haven. And declaring “We are delivered.” Meaning we are untouchable. We neither know the state of our sins nor the God of Holiness. In each case, getting ourselves wrong or getting God wrong will lead us into captivity and failure.
It’s only when we know ourselves, admit our sins, and cry to him for mercy, and know him who is above it all, and who is the God of all grace and kindness… only in knowing both him and us, do we find eternal life and the joy and voice and presence of the Lord. Amen?
Verse 11 says the Temple is a ‘den of robbers.’ Yeshua says the same of the Jewish leadership at the end of his own public ministry. (Matthew 21.13, Mark 11.17, Luke 19.46). And what is the contrast?
It is written, ‘MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER’ FOR ALL THE NATIONS’; but you are making it a ROBBERS’ DEN.”
We love that citation from Isaiah and it is found in Hebrew graffiti on our shopfront. (Isaiah 56.7). God wants his people, us, the Jews, to help other nations to come into God’s economy and into relationship with him. Our misbehaviour prevents their coming and thus enrages the Lord. His love is for all people.
For those who are here in the Zoom room today, on Christmas Eve 2021, don’t you like that line from Simeon, the old man in the Temple who was there when Miriam and Yosef brought the baby Yeshua in for dedication. (Luke 2.29ff) Simeon said, “Now let your servant depart in peace, for my eyes have seen your salvation; a light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel.” God always had Gentiles in mind when he called Israel to represent him. We were not called to be so special that we prevented others, but rather that we were used to call others to the Lord of Life.
Verses 12-15 says there is no escape. We are done for. What God did through the Assyrians to Israel (here Ephraim) in 722 BCE, he will do to Judah very soon. No way out. You rejected God. Early in the morning you went off to Temple, but your ears were closed by your own volition.
2. Your prayers will do them no good (.16-20)
Don’t bother praying; your prayers won’t do you any good either. Look at verses 16-20 and see God’s announcements. This is the first of three occasions when the Lord specifically warns Jeremiah not to pray for his people. That sounds outrageous and plain WRONG! What’s the point of warning if there’s no way out?
I believe God is saying here that the Jews are past the point of no return. God was done shaking his head; now it’s a done deal.
What’s the problem? He already has listed 5 of the Big Ten. Now he says false worship characterizes the people. They, and this includes the children, the next generation, being taught the wrong things and they use their strength and their capacity to worship false deities. Wood, fire, offerings of drinks and dough all to the Queen of Heaven and to other foreign gods. Don’t get distracted and shout at me that this is Mary, the Virgin Queen of the Roman church 800 years later. False worship can be anything, anyone, any celebrity, any sports hero, any preacher!, any national leader like Hitler or someone of political magnetism who charms the public. They can each be the Queen of Heaven, in this regard.
3. Their sacrifices won’t do them any good (.21-26)
Their sacrifices fail. And God says, “I never asked for those.” Wait a minute, you say, God DID ask for such sacrifices. Have you never read Leviticus? So which is it? Did God, or didn’t he?
My friends, this is one of those points I hear from messianic folks in Tennessee, and in Georgia, in Kansas and all across the USA. So many get this wrong. They focus on the obedience of actions; they want God to be pleased with their deeds. In EACH prophet in the Older Testament, the warning and the answers are visible.
Verses 23-24: “But this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you will be My people; and you will walk in all the way which I command you, that it may be well with you.’ 24 “Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward and not forward.
The Hebrew for forward is dramatic. L’fanim. Towards the face. Towards the presence of God. It’s personal! Stop worrying about the details; stop measuring your own good deeds as if that would satisfy anyone besides you (and be honest, it never does satisfy you either!). There are only two possible results of living in a checklist religion: 1) you will accomplish the deeds and feel smug and proud or 2) you will fail and feel condemned. Neither of those, pride or condemnation, are what God wants for his people. He wants us to love him.
This week I spent some time with each of my grandsons, and the oldest, who is 10, and I worked on a project involving painting, nailing, measuring, and then of course, putting things away. It was very satisfying, and I’ll tell you the most important part of it all. You might even guess. It wasn’t how well he hammered, although he was excellent at that. It wasn’t in how he held the paint brush or any of the physical enterprise. It was that we were together. And we finished, and tomorrow we will showcase the result, and everyone will be pleased. But I’m already pleased because we were together. He listened to my instructions, and we did a good thing. Good is the result of fellowship and relationship and that’s what God has been after in his people from the beginnings.
4. God’s correction won’t do any good (.27-34)
God’s correction won’t serve any purposes in the final section of our chapter today. The people are so depraved that they literally burn their children in the Valley of Hinnom as an offering to the gods. This by the way, is the Gehenna of Yeshua’s ‘hell’ imagery and God says in verse 34, I never let that come into my mind (Hebrew: heart).
We today use the term ‘heartbroken’ to describe this pain of someone who cannot fix the problem of another. In romantic comedies they use the phrase ‘unrequited love’ and it feels sad. I think God’s love, knocked back by ancient Judah, is still available today, for you and me, for all our mates and even our enemies.
Listen, an Israeli who has been to our gatherings the last couple of years, ended his life this week, even after one of our volunteer sisters gave him a final chance to humble himself to Yeshua, to receive his Lordship and grace. God’s love is ever reaching out to all, in Orthodox circles, in your circles, in Sydney, in Tennessee, wherever you and I are, today, next week, and until we meet again in 2022.
Don’t knock it back.
Don’t say no to the Lord of life.
Say yes; you want good in your life? Turn to Yeshua. Say yes to him. Tell others of your new faith and you will have reason to go on, and to live life abundant.
Joy to the world, they sing, the Lord has come. Let earth receive her king. Let every heart prepare him room. Dear friends, let your heart prepare room for Yeshua. Now and forever more.
CONCLUSION
God is calling each of us to know him and to walk with him, today and throughout our days. Have you received Yeshua as your messiah and Lord? Have you renounced your sin, your idolatry, your forsaking God and given him First Place in your life? If not, please, do so now, just now, as we pray together. Use your own words, if you want, but yield, surrender, to the Lord of life.
PRAYER
Then please write us (admin@jewsforjesus.org.au) to tell us what you have just done, and we will send you literature and encourage you. You are part of our family; we love and appreciate you. And we want you to enjoy the presence of the Lord who calls, who knows, who blesses and builds us up.
We hope to see you again in the new year, as we study chapter 8. Today is our final class for 2021, and we will meet again on Friday 21 January. Until then, merry Messiahmas, Happy 2022, and for tonight, Shabbat shalom!
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Barnes, Albert, Albert Barnes’ Commentary on the Old Testament,
Craigie, Peter; Kelley, Page; Drinkard, Joel. Word Biblical Commentary. Book of Jeremiah. 1991.
Henry, Matthew, Commentary.
Weirsbe, Warren. Be Decisive. David Cook Publishers, Colorado Springs 1991.
Wright, Christopher, The Message of Jeremiah, The Bible Speaks Today, Intervarsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois, 2014.
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ACTUAL TEXT
Jer. 7:1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, 2 “aStand in the gate of the LORD’S house and proclaim there this word and say, ‘Hear the word of the LORD, all you of Judah, who enter by these gates to worship the LORD!’” 3 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, “aAmend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place. 4 “aDo not trust in deceptive words, saying, ‘1This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD.’ 5 “For aif you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly bpractice justice between a man and his neighbor, 6 if you do not oppress the alien, the 1aorphan, or the widow, and do not shed binnocent blood in this place, nor cwalk after other gods to your own ruin, 7 then I will let you adwell in this place, in the bland that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.
Jer. 7:8 “Behold, you are trusting in adeceptive words to no avail. 9 “Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery and swear falsely, and 1aoffer sacrifices to Baal and walk after bother gods that you have not known, 10 then acome and stand before Me in bthis house, which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’ — that you may do all these abominations? 11 “Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers in your sight? Behold, I, even I, have seen it,” declares the LORD.
Jer. 7:12 “But go now to My place which was in aShiloh, where I bmade My name dwell at the first, and csee what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel. 13 “And now, because you have done all these things,” declares the LORD, “and I spoke to you, arising up early and bspeaking, but you did not hear, and I ccalled you but you did not answer, 14 therefore, I will do to the ahouse which is called by My name, bin which you trust, and to the place which I gave you and your fathers, as I cdid to Shiloh. 15 “I will acast you out of My sight, as I have cast out all your brothers, all the 1offspring of bEphraim.
Jer. 7:16 “As for you, ado not pray for this people, and do not lift up cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with Me; for I do not hear you. 17 “Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18 “The 1children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they apour out drink offerings to other gods in order to bspite Me. 19 “aDo they spite Me?” declares the LORD. “Is it not themselves they spite, to 1their own bshame?” 20 Therefore thus says the Lord 1GOD, “Behold, My aanger and My wrath will be poured out on this place, on man and on beast and on the btrees of the field and on the fruit of the ground; and it will burn and not be quenched.”
Jer. 7:21 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, “Add your aburnt offerings to your sacrifices and beat flesh. 22 “For I did not aspeak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. 23 “But this is 1what I commanded them, saying, ‘aObey My voice, and bI will be your God, and you will be My people; and you will walk in all the way which I command you, that it may cbe well with you.’ 24 “Yet they adid not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and 1bwent backward and not forward. 25 “Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have asent you all My servants the prophets, daily rising early and sending them. 26 “Yet they did not listen to Me or incline their ear, but astiffened their neck; they bdid more evil than their fathers.
Jer. 7:27 “You shall aspeak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you; and you shall call to them, but they will bnot answer you. 28 “You shall say to them, ‘This is the nation that adid not obey the voice of the LORD their God or accept correction; 1btruth has perished and has been cut off from their mouth.
29 ‘aCut off 1your hair and cast it away,
And btake up a lamentation on the bare heights;
For the LORD has crejected and forsaken
The generation of His wrath.’
30 “For the sons of Judah have done that which is evil in My sight,” declares the LORD, “they have aset their detestable things in the house which is called by My name, to defile it. 31 “They have abuilt the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to bburn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I cdid not command, and it did not come into My 1mind.
Jer. 7:32 “aTherefore, behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when it will no longer be called Topheth, or the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of the Slaughter; for they will bbury in Topheth 1because there is no other place. 33 “The adead bodies of this people will be food for the birds of the sky and for the beasts of the earth; and no one will frighten them away. 34 “Then I will make to acease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride; for the bland will become a ruin.
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