Jeremiah's Day?

My FB friend, Gloria Holmes Cooper, brought up a question this morning in regard to whether or not Jeremiah's day paralleled our own. Instantly, my mind went to this faithful prophet called by God as a young man to sound a warning to the people of Israel--telling them of pending judgement and calling them to repentance in the name of the Lord. Jeremiah loved his people. He was called the "weeping prophet" because of his diligence to pray for them. With tears and supplication, he anguished before the Throne of God in prayer.

The people of Israel were deeply engaged in sin. They saw no need to repent, believing no doubt that life would continue as usual.  They had wandered far from the foundations of their faith. Hearts hardened to God, they refused to walk in His ways. Idolatry was rampant. Morality at rock bottom. Like today, the sacrifice of their own children brought grief and ire to God. Rich and poor, servant and leader, the people as whole had succumbed to a reprobate mind and rebellious spirit.  Over and over again, the warning came. But they had neither eyes that saw or ears that heard.

For more than 20 years, Jeremiah warned them, prayed for them, grieved for them.  Yet, they disdained him and openly rejected his message. In fact, they said to him, "As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, we will not listen to you! But we will certainly do whatever has gone out of our own mouth." (Jer. 7:16) They were only interested in teachers who would justify their sin, tickle their ears, and support their lifestyles. Oh...if only they would repent...God longed to be gracious to them...but they didn't. And then--the day came!

I cannot imagine the anguish of Jeremiah's heart when God told him, "Do not pray any more for this people, nor lift up a cry or prayer for them, not make intercession to Me; for I will not hear you."(Jer. 7:16, 11:14, 14:11) What? God refused to hear the cries of Jeremiah? Why????

In His mercy and long suffering, God longed to save them and have mercy on them. God is loving, but His character is also one of justice and righteousness. The time comes when sin is so abundant that God no longer can turn His face away. And so it was. His hand of protection passed from them.  The just consequences of their rebellious hearts belonged to them alone.

They were a proud, arrogant, self-serving and self-sufficient people who convinced themselves they did not need God.  He's sent prophet after prophet, but they did not want to hear. When the day of judgement arrived and the great King Nebuchadnezzar marched against Israel, most of them were destroyed. The brightest and best of Israel were taken into captivity. It would be more than 2000 years until Israel had sovereignty over her own homeland again.  Yet, sadly even today we see her returning to her old ways. Even as we have left our foundations of faith as a nation and seek after idols in rebellion against God.

So then...do our times parallel Jeremiah's day? This writer believes indeed they do. While the epidemic of sin is world-wide, I will deal only with professing believers within the United States of America.

In a nation filled with churches, and with a remnant crying out to the Church to repent, the American church turns her head away in pride and arrogance. She mocks the prophetic voice within her crying out for repentance. She is deeply offended by those who say she has forgotten the gospel and adorned herself with the covering of the world. She too disdains the prophets and is deeply engaged in the sin of the nation. She stands silent in the face of the those things called an abomination to God.

Her heart is centered on "what God can do for me" instead of what she can do for God".  The gospel is hard for her to articulate. She has exchanged truth for emotion.  Few even really understand what the gospel is. They fail to understand that it is about God come to earth as man in order to pay the price that man could not pay. That Jesus carried our sin upon that cross and only with His perfect, sinless blood could we be reconciled to God. That because He died, was buried and resurrected again as the first fruits of the reconciliation, we too had hope of eternal life.  That is IF we received the gift. The first scriptures I ever learned were the heart of the gospel.

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen seen, that they have been done in God." (John 3:16-21)

My friends, God is sending the same message to us today as His sent to the people of Israel through Jeremiah.  Know this ... the day of judgement will come. In the midst of God's love, mercy, and long-suffering the time will come when He will no longer look upon the wickedness of man. What is written will be fulfilled. It will come and it will take the world by surprise. The price of wickedness will be horrific. 

We are called to be salt and light, but our salt has lost its savor. Jesus said, You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out trampled underfoot by men."  It is not easy to be a believer today. Like Jeremiah, we can expect to be rejected and mocked, but we must share Christ with any and all who may listen.

All over the earth, we see the signs of the end of this age: 

• Signs of Nature with the earth itself in chaos
• Signs of Societal Decay and Lawlessness
• Spiritual Signs with apostasy in full measure and abundance of false teachers and false prophets. A church that has surrendered to the ways of the world around us.
• Signs of Technology with an explosion of knowledge and communication, trans-humanism, artificial intelligence and a clear path to global finance, courts, and governance. (Did you know that's in the Bible?)
• Signs of World Politics with the world stage set in a pattern that perfectly matches the geopolitical map of the end of this age
• Signs of Israel the rebirth of Israel in May of 1948 is the stellar sign of our times. Watch her.  On the prophetic clock, JD Farag likes to say, the hour hand is Israel, the minute hand is Jerusalem, and the second hand is the Temple Mount!
• The Convergence of all these signs! 

 Jesus said, "So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near--at the doors! Assuredly I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away." (Matthew 24:33-35)

This is my generation. Israel just celebrated her 70th Birthday! I long to see the Lord, but I grieve as well because I have loved ones who continue to reject Christ, who are blind to the things of the Spirit and do not wish to hear. Thus, like Jeremiah, I continue to pray and weep as Jeremiah prayed and wept on behalf of his people, hoping beyond hope that I will not hear my Father say, "Stop, don't pray any more."

Nevertheless, I know that the Day of Judgement comes even while the people continue to mock and refuse to repent.