Jeremiah 7:5

The Lord said to the children of Israel in Jeremiah 7:5-7, “For if ye throughly amend your ways and your doings; if ye throughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbour; If ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt: Then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever.” These verses of the Bible address the sin problem. This is the universal problem of mankind. Individual guilt and sin was the problem of the Israelites in the days of Jeremiah, and the sin problem is the problem of every human being in every country and in every city. As it says in Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”

Thanks be to God that He loves us so much that He gave us a solution to the sin problem. Jesus came and died for us on the cross of Calvary. But there is something for us to do also in order to be free from the guilt of our sins. It is described very well in Jeremiah 7:5-6, and it is called repentance. Repentance is a change of mind that results in a change of behavior. Repentance takes place when you consider your own actions, and you admit that you have done one or more things that you ought not to do, and you are sorry to the point of wanting to change your behavior, and you ask Jesus to forgive you. Repentance is a very important spiritual response to the truth that you are a sinner. No one is a servant of God unless they learn to repent. The Bible says in Luke 13:2-5, “And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” It also says in Second Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

One of the truths emphasized in Jeremiah 7:5-6 is that if you do repent, then you will have a change in behavior. It is impossible for someone to repent and turn to Christ, and have no change in their behavior. That is why it says in Second Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

The Bible says in Jeremiah 7:8-11, “Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit. Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not; And come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations? Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the LORD.” Five of the Ten Commandments are mentioned in this passage of scripture alone: 1. Thou shalt not steal. 2. Thou shalt not kill. 3. Thou shalt not commit adultery. 4. Thou shalt not lie. 5. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. The Ten Commandments are central to the way of life that the Lord wants us to follow. The day that we stop walking in fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ will be the day that we start breaking these commandments more and more.

It is interesting to notice that in Jeremiah 7:11 it refers to the fact that the children of Israel had turned the temple of the Lord into “a den of robbers.” Jesus used the exact same terminology in referring to what had happened to the temple in His day. The Bible says in Matthew 21:12-16, “And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves. And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them. And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased, And said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?”

The Bible says in Jeremiah 7:12-15, “But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel. And now, because ye have done all these works, saith the LORD, and I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not; and I called you, but ye answered not; Therefore will I do unto this house, which is called by my name, wherein ye trust, and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh. And I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole seed of Ephraim.” The word “Shiloh” is a great word in the Old Testament and refers directly to the Lord Jesus. The word “Shiloh” literally means “peace,” and Jesus is the Prince of Peace. The first use of the word refers to a person, the Messiah, and is found in Genesis 49:10 that says, “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.” Eventually the word “Shiloh” was used for a place where God met with the children of Israel. It says in Joshua 18:1, “And the whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled together at Shiloh, and set up the tabernacle of the congregation there. And the land was subdued before them.” It also says in First Samuel 1:3, “And this man went up out of his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice unto the LORD of hosts in Shiloh. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, the priests of the LORD, were there.” And it says in First Samuel 3:21, “And the LORD appeared again in Shiloh: for the LORD revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the LORD.” But because of the wickedness of the people, God stopped meeting with the people at Shiloh, and God allowed a foreign nation to come and destroy that part of Israel. This situation is described in Psalms 78:51-60 that says, “And smote all the firstborn in Egypt; the chief of their strength in the tabernacles of Ham: But made his own people to go forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock. And he led them on safely, so that they feared not: but the sea overwhelmed their enemies. And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary, even to this mountain, which his right hand had purchased. He cast out the heathen also before them, and divided them an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents. Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God, and kept not his testimonies: But turned back, and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers: they were turned aside like a deceitful bow. For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images. When God heard this, he was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel: So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men;”

What God is saying in Jeremiah 7:14 is simply, “Learn from the mistakes of the past.” That is one of the values of studying history. History does repeat itself, especially for those who do not learn its lessons. Every generation must either learn from history, or be doomed to fall into the same traps and the same mistakes.

The Bible says in Jeremiah 7:16, “Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not hear thee.” It is interesting that God tells Jeremiah not to pray for these people. Normally, the situation that we are all in is that we do not pray enough for others. We wonder why more people do not get saved, and why more people do not draw closer to Jesus. We are told about situations where people prayed more, and then a revival came. The Bible says in Mark 9:17-29, “And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit;
And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away: and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not. He answereth him, and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him unto me. And they brought him unto him: and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming. And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child. And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us. Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief. When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him. And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said, He is dead. But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose. And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out? And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.” It says in First Thessalonians 5:17, “Pray without ceasing.”And in First Timothy 2:1, “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men.”

Therefore, people have to be in a terrible condition indeed for God to say that there is no need to pray for these people. They have gone too far into rebellion against God. Their hearts are too hard. They have rejected the truth too many times. Their fate is now already decided and there is no use in even praying for them. It is too late for them. This also shows that we need to be led by the Lord even in who we talk to and who we pray for. We do not even know what we should pray for unless we are in close spiritual contact with the Lord. It says in Romans 8:26-27, “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”

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