EMPTY SACRIFICES VS. OBEDIENCE

The next section I want to focus on is from chapter 7; it is a section that I think is needful for the “church” today to hear. This is another excerpt from my journal.

Jeremiah 7:21-23 “Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Put your burnt offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat flesh. For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices: But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.”

I think the NIV translation is much easier to understand for this section of verses:“Go ahead, add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices and eat the meat yourselves! For when I brought your forefathers 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 all the ways I command you, that it may go well with you.”

It’s interesting how much energy man will invest in performing rituals and adhering to routines to project a desired appearance of spirituality. When it comes to actually serving God according to His will as revealed in His word, however, we choose to follow our own inclinations while trying to justify actions that go against that very revelation. We seem to be wired to try to meet God on our own terms rather than His.

Jeremiah 7:24 “But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.”

The sad truth—God’s people chose not to listen to Him. They chose to act according to their own purposes and their own desires as stated above.

The Hebrew for the word "imagination" was interesting. It stated “in the sense of twisted” from a root that stated “to be hostile; enemy.” It was actually emphasizing the fact that their purposes were rooted in a heart that was hostile to God; their thinking was twisted; it wasn’t rooted in the truth. Instead of growing spiritually, they were in spiritual decline.

Skipping now to verse 27…

Jeremiah 7:27-28 “Therefore thou shalt speak all these words unto them; but they will not hearken to thee: thou shalt also call unto them; but they will not answer thee. But thou shalt say unto them, This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the LORD their God, nor receiveth correction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth.

The LORD reminds Jeremiah that the people are going to reject the message he declares; his message will fall on deaf ears. They will refuse to repent of their sin. He is not to quit; he is to be faithful to continue to proclaim God’s word. He
is to confront them with their sin and warn them of the judgment to come.

The church today would do well to follow Jeremiah’s example. We have become so focused on talking about God’s love that the message of identifying sin and declaring judgment has become almost nonexistent. We need to declare the whole counsel of God. We should exercise God-sensitivity—not seeker sensitivity.

Jeremiah was grieved at the response of his people. He is often described as the weeping prophet.

Jeremiah 9:1 “Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!“

Jeremiah freely expresses deep grief and sorrow for the wickedness and evil that permeates the culture of his people. He loved his people and was sick of seeing how they had given themselves over to evil in rejection of the God of Israel.

Again, this is an area in which we would do well to follow Jeremiah’s example. It’s so easy to get wrapped up in our own little world and ignore the spiritual needs that surround us. Mighty men of God always reflect a heart of love and concern for their people. Listen to the hearts of Moses, Daniel and the Apostle Paul.

Exodus 32:30–32 “And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up unto the LORD; peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sin. And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin--; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.”

Daniel 9:4–6, 16-17 “And I prayed unto the LORD my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments; We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments: Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, which spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land…. O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain: because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to all that are about us. Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant, and his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord’s sake.”

Romans 9:1–4 “I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh: Who are Israelites….”