Jeremiah 9:25

The Bible says in Jeremiah 9:25-26, “Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will punish all them which are circumcised with the uncircumcised; Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all that are in the utmost corners, that dwell in the wilderness: for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart.” Circumcision was an outward act that was supposed to be symbolic of a spiritual reality. The outward or physical act meant nothing if there was no inner spiritual reality to accompany it. The cutting away of the foreskin was symbolic of the taking away of sin from the life. God is always interested in people turning from sin and learning to live a more holy life. Yes, the Lord Jesus forgives our sins, but He always does so with the purpose in mind that we will lead more holy lives after we are forgiven. Repentance is a requirement to finding forgiveness, and repentance includes having the purpose and the desire to turn from our sins and turn to the Lord.

God is saying in Jeremiah 9:25 and 26 that the children of Israel, who were circumcised, would receive the same punishment as the heathen who were uncircumcised. That situation showed just how far the Israelites had fallen. God has a purpose for His people, but that purpose can only be fulfilled if God’s people are different from the unbelievers around them. As it says in Jeremiah 10:1-2, “Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto you, O house of Israel: Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.” Jeremiah 10:2 has two warnings concerning the heathen. First it says to believers, “Learn not the way of the heathen.” Second it says, “the heathen are dismayed.” The “way” of the heathen refers to the things that the heathen do: their behavior, their actions, and their habits. It refers to the places that they go, and the habits that they have, and the priorities that they make. The fact that the heathen are “dismayed” refers to the fears that they have. These fears are one of their greatest motivators. The word that is translated from Hebrew as “dismayed” is the basic word that means to be terrified. It also means to be shattered. We know what it means to shatter a vase. It is rendered totally useless. A human being that is taken over by fear is also rendered totally useless, especially from the standpoint of what a believer is striving for: to live by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

You will either learn how to separate from the heathen around you, or you are doomed to copy their way of life. A believer needs to be very discerning. We live in many ways intermixed with the heathen. We often work with them many hours every day. We live in the same neighborhoods. And here is one of the dangers: we watch some of the television shows, movies, and news programs that the heathen create. The goal is to not separate completely from the heathen who are around us because we want to influence them with the gospel of Christ. But we also want to make sure that we do not copy anything that they do that does not please the Lord, or that takes away from our testimony, and that is simply a wrong thing to do. It says in Second Corinthians 6:14-18, “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” God wants a holy people to serve Him, and a holy people is a separated people. One of the main reasons that the Israelites failed so miserably during the time of Jeremiah was that the Israelites did not learn this principle of separation, and did not practice the principle of separation from the heathen. Do you?

The heathen are always very fearful. After all, they do not have faith in the great eternal Savior. All they have is themselves in the midst of a dangerous and changing world. No wonder they are fearful. But someone who trusts in Jesus has nothing to fear. The great eternal Savior is working in your life to bring about His perfect will for you. Yes, you have a cross to bear, but the Lord is in charge and He knows what He is doing. Therefore, what is there to fear? The demons fear the Lord, and as long as you are in fellowship with Jesus and resist the devil, the devil will flee from you. You can sleep in the bow of the boat while a storm is raging because you can have confidence that the Lord will take care of you. It says in First Corinthians 3:19-23, “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. And again, the Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wiser that they are vain. Therefore let no man. For all things are your’s; Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are your’s; And ye are Christ; and Christ is God’s.” What is there to fear? What is there to be dismayed about? Once I have become a child of God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, what is there to fear? God will use absolutely everything to direct my life, and to help me become the believer He wants me to be as I travel towards heaven.

The Bible says in Jeremiah 10:3-7, “For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good. Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee, O LORD; thou art great, and thy name is great in might. Who would not fear thee, O King of nations? for to thee doth it appertain: forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like unto thee.” There are several passages in the Old Testament similar to verses 3 through 7 that point out how foolish it is to worship the false gods that were made by the hands of man. They were no gods at all. They were nothing but inanimate objects. The same is true of all false religion. False religion comes from the hand of man. Most false religion in our day can trace its beginnings to a human being who walked into a forest or into a cave, claimed that he had a vision, and then started gathering a religious following. All of these religions are not much different than the idols of the Old Testament in the sense that they were established by man. The only true religion was established by God and by His Son Jesus Christ. Any person on this earth can read about God’s unfolding revelation that began with Moses and culminated with Jesus the Son of God through His disciples in the first century. Simply read the Bible, and ask the Lord for understanding. If you do not, you will be an easy prey to all of the false religions.

The verses in Jeremiah 10:3-5 are associated with the verse that came before in verse 2 in that the message is, “do not fear.” Trusting in the Lord Jesus will cast out fear: any fear. If you fear something, that only proves your lack of faith. Some people fear the unknown, some fear change, some fear demons, some fear other people, and the list goes on forever. Is there anything that people should fear? It says in Jeremiah 10:7, “Who would not fear thee, O King of nations?” Some people fear “nations.” In other words, they fear government. They might fear their own government, or the government of other nations. Any such fear is really caused by not remembering the “King of nations.” There is an invisible hand guiding all authority: the mighty hand of God. God has a purpose for all things. God is involved. He is not a by-stander. That is why it says in Romans 13:1-7, “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: or he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing. Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.”

There is one more point to make about Jeremiah 10:7 when it speaks of the “King of nations.” Another phrase that means the same thing is “King of kings” or Lord of lords. Jeremiah 10:7 is talking about Jehovah, and so verse 6 uses the word “LORD” which is the King James translation of the Hebrew word that means “Jehovah.” Jesus is Jehovah. The Bible says about Jesus in First Timothy 6:14-15, “That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ: Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords.”

The emphasis in Jeremiah 10:7 is the fact that God is so much wiser than any human being that the wise thing to do is to fear Him and to trust in Him. He knows the end from the beginning. As a matter of fact, God is the One who is directing the beginning and the end of every single event in this world involving every single individual and every single nation. The wind blows, the sea flows, and God knows. One of the reasons that God knows best is that He knows the end from the beginning. There is a wonderful passage of scripture that compares the wisdom of man to the wisdom of God. It says in First Corinthians 1:18-28, “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:”

Because of the great wisdom from the King of nations that is at your disposal, you cannot go wrong when you trust in Him. Trust in the Lord and you cannot go wrong. Things may not appear to work out well, but you will find at the judgment that it all fit into His great plan, and things worked out just the way that they should. As it says in Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not to thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.” His guiding Hand is the hand that you want to follow. Put your faith in Him and you will know ahead of time that everything will work out fine, because it will work out just the way God designed it all. As it says in Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to those that love God, and to those that are the called according to His purpose.”

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