Jeremiah 2
Introduction
The two-inch margins of my old International Study Bible are running over with notes. They are in three colors, indicating this is the fourth time I’ve worked through Jeremiah since I started using this as my devotional Bible. As I began this morning’s journey through chapter two, as is my custom, I engaged in prayer, asking the Lord for insight, understanding, and a conversation with Him through the text.
Most of those reading this blog are likely familiar with my career in Biblical Counseling. However, for the occasional or first-time reader, I am an ordained PCA minister called by the Lord to specialize in this meaningful ministry—what Paul Tripp describes as being an instrument in the Redeemer’s hands. Many individuals struggling with some form of addiction (a form of idolatry) have allowed me to journey with them toward freedom.
Some of the notes in the margins indicate I had previously observed what was intensified and clarified this morning. Jeremiah is contemporary. However, though his message in the first thirty-eight chapters was to Israel, it is a message to anyone who identifies as a Christian at any point in history who vainly seeks fulfillment, satisfaction, or escape through some form of idolatry. No matter what the period of history, God and His principles never change. Loving God is manifested in obedience. Disobedience always results in judgment, which often comes in the form of consequences that flow from the disobedience, which is the choice to love self (“I did it my way”) rather than God.
Chapter two suggests a courtroom scene in which God is both the judge and the offended party, while Jeremiah serves as the DA.
The DA’s Opening Statement (1-3)
While the party on trial is Israel, the situation described in the opening statement is repeated whenever a sinner repents and, like Israel, is set free from slavery. Twice, the Apostle mentions this delivery from slavery. In Romans 6:18, Paul states, “Having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.” He further explains this in Romans 6:22, where he writes, “But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, your fruit is for holiness, and the end is eternal life.”
Just as the ancient Israelites had an immediate celebration after their deliverance from Egypt, they celebrated the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. This was quickly followed by a song of praise at the Red Sea, as described in Exodus 15, celebrating their deliverance and God’s strength. Therefore, the believer has “the devotion of youth and the love of betrothal,” an enthusiastic embracing of the new life in Christ.
But unfortunately, Satan does not lie down and quit. He incites opposition. Israel could have a ninety-day journey into the Promised Land, but from within came he opposition of the negative spies, followed by the lack of trusting God. The consequence was forty years of wilderness wandering. But for those who become the agents of Satan and lead God’s people astray, Jeremiah reminds them in verse three that they become guilty before Him.
The DA Presents God’s Case (4-36)
The details of the case as presented are too complex to present a full commentary in a blog of 11-13 hundred words. I would encourage you to consult a good commentary (for the general reader, the top recommendations are Derek Kidner’s The Message of Jeremiah and Philip Ryken’s volume in the Preaching the Word series).
For my purposes in this blog, what is essential is the contemporary character of Jeremiah’s message: that while the idols may change, idolatry does not. The consequences of idolatry do not change.
Idolatry begins with the judgment that God is inadequate 5-8)
- We see this in the question: “What fault did you find in me that you strayed?” (5a)
- We see this in their failure to seek the Lord (6)
- We see this in their failure to remember (6b-7)
- We see the failure of their ministers (8)
It develops through the choice to “do it my way.” (5b)
- When we fail to love God, we choose idols to replace Him (Romans 1:18-25).
What is the consequence of exchanging God for idols?
- We walk after emptiness, and we become empty (5)
God’s charges declared (13)
“My people have committed two sins:
- They have forsaken me,
the spring of living water, - and have dug their own cisterns,
broken cisterns that cannot hold water
His charge defines the emptiness of idolatry and the emptiness of the person who seeks the idol referred to in verse five.
The DA addresses an important question to the dependent (14)
It is a question that believers (whether the idol is alcohol, porn, pot, or any other idol, such as materialism, position, etc. need to hear and answer.
- Are you a slave or are you born again and a servant of the Lord? (14)
- Verses 15-16 depict some of the consequences of choosing to become a slave to some idol
- Verse 17 poses a question to prompt self-examination. A very legitimate question to pose to any addict. Whether porn, sex, alcohol, drugs, you name the idol, it starts with the forsaking of God and seeking from the idol what we should seek from God—love, satisfaction, affirmation, even escape (Psalm 32:7, 26:5, 81:1, 119:114).
- Yet, despite suffering the consequence of idolatry, as Israel, so many people today find themselves with God asking, “But what are you doing on the road to Egypt…. (18), that is, why are you going back to your idol? Have you not yet learned that “it is evil and bitter for you to for sake the Lord you God?”
- Another charge comes with the remaindered, “I broke you and tore off your bonds” (20). Even the biblical counselor, Dr. Mark Shaw, found it necessary to issue a workbook, Relapse: Biblical Prevention Strategies, as a follow-up to his excellent work, The Heart of Addiction, in which he so ably argues that addiction of any kind is idolatry. Why? The DA, Jeremiah, explains, “But you said, ‘I will not serve’” (20b).
This repeated theme runs on through verse thirty-six.
The Judge Declares the Sentence (37)
You will also leave that place (I am God, you and your idols are not)
with your hands on your head (you will be arrested),
for the Lord has rejected those you trust; (your idols will not work)
you will not be helped by them (your idols’ emptiness will be evident!)
Conclusion
Jeremiah, the ancient yet contemporary prophet, though he is dead, speaks. The seeking of the idols of emptiness leaves people as empty now as it did Israel then. The foolishness of returning to idols when at some point God delivers us is to be practical fools (Psalm 14:1). The consequence of not getting one’s dream job because of a failed drug test is a natural consequence of choosing to worship an idol rather than trusting God with your anxiety or getting a DUI and causing your to be fired from your driver’s education teacher position, or being fired for intoxication when you show up on the flight line.
Oh, Christian, say yes to the worship of God and no to the devil’s temptation to worship an idol.