sobering awareness of judgment

For from the least to the greatest of them,

everyone is greedy for unjust gain;

and from prophet to priest,

everyone deals falsely.

They have healed the wound of my people lightly,

saying, ‘Peace, peace,’

when there is no peace.

Jeremiah 6:13-14

God was speaking to His people in their total rebellion. They had ceased to worship Him or regard His covenant. Greed and thievery were the characteristics of both rich and poor, small and great, leader and follower. And even religious leaders were perpetuating this selfish culture. False prophets and greedy priests sought to use religion solely for personal gain. They refused to acknowledge any wrongdoing with one another and instead propped up a false optimistic sugary message of peace, even though the sin of God’s people had already begun to bring upheaval to the nation. They really felt like they’d make it just fine. But God had decreed His fine-grinding judgment.

Jeremiah spoke against this sin and also preached a judgment so thorough that no sinner would escape it. Houses would burn to ash. Families would be split up and destroyed. Leaders would be taken captive and killed. False priests and false prophets would be silenced. Vineyards would be ransacked. Crops would be burned and trampled. The life they sinfully lived for themselves… for greed and selfish ends… it would all be brutally ripped away in warfare, fire, and total ruin.

God would put an end to their shameless selfishness by this humiliation. This would be the final outcome of their deeds, dreams, and devices against God. Because they rejected God’s Word and His loving relationship in the covenant, they would reap all the worst curses of the covenant.

This warning from Jeremiah shows us one clear thing: God takes our sin quite seriously. And His people must worship Him in holiness, love His truth, and never take the grace of His provision and love for them for granted. It is quite sobering as Jeremiah preaches it! And it should be.