Youtube video: https://youtu.be/Ld58n_F_60A
Isa 30:18; The Lord is ready to show mercy, He sits on high ready to demonstrate His compassion. The Lord is just and all who wait on Him will be blessed.
In our study we have been noting the consequences of the inversion of thought that is the product of negative volition to God's Word of truth and have been noting passages that describe the destruction of the Israelite client nations who compromised with truth with the result that they rejected God's Word.
We are looking at God's warning to the Northern Kingdom of Israel in Hosea 4:1-6 and in Hosea 4:6; we are noting the word translated "rejected." in the phrase... because you have rejected knowledge I will reject you from being my priest....
At the moment we are We are looking at Jeremiah 8 where we see the same events occurring in the Southern Kingdom of Judah about 150 years later.
We left off in Jer 8:20; where we noted that God always provides grace before judgment but since they rejected God's Word and pursued demon doctrines they rejected His grace.
No anti-Biblical system based on demonic thinking has ever worked for the spiritual life or for a national entity because it rejects the reality that God's Word reveals so it cannot work.
The word for "summer" is the gathering of the harvest at the end of the summer; wasting it refers to the deployment of human viewpoint based on doctrines of demons that they had based their national policy on.
Jer 9:1; NET O that my head was dissolved into water and my eyes were a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for those who have been killed.
As God revealed what the consequences of the nation's evil reversionism would be Jeremiah was so shocked that he expressed his sorrow with a metaphor. His desire was that tears would blind him so that he would not have to contemplate what was going to happen.
The revelation of Judah's discipline was so traumatic that Jeremiah preferred to abandon his mission rather than warn his people of the tragic consequences of their negative volition.
But he had to faithfully proclaim the message that God had revealed to him to remain true to his prophetic responsibility so he outlined the devastation that would accrue to the nation under Divine discipline: social decay, (Verses 3, 4, 8) loss of integrity, (verses 5, 7, 9, 11) economic disaster, (Verse 12) and military destruction. (Verses 13, 14)
Jer 9:3; NET "They bend their tongue like their bow; Lies and not truth prevail in the land; For they proceed from evil to evil, (Mark 4:24-25;) And they do not know Me," (Jer 9:24;) declares the LORD.
Jer 9:4; NET" Let everyone be on guard against his neighbor, And do not trust any brother; Because every brother deals deceitfully, And every neighbor goes about as a slanderer.
Social decay was manifested by sins of the tongue including maligning, slandering, judging, condemnation, and gossip just like their father the devil who constantly accuses God's people. Rev 12:10;
After rejecting truth, the Jews compounded evil with evil. From the early stages of reversionism they went on to the stages where evil and hatred permeate the soul. In the status of strong delusion from rejecting truth, it is impossible to know the Lord because without truth it is impossible to understand God.
The verbal reversionism caused Jeremiah to warn them to be on guard against their neighbors as explained in Jer 9:8; NET A murdering arrow is their tongue; they are always telling lies, they speak friendly words but they are plotting ways to ambush and entrap them with lies and deceit. Net notes 22 and 23
We see this exact same thing has compromised those who are responsible for communication of truth in our nation. Out of one side of their mouth they feigned "brotherly love", while they actually laid plans for destruction.
When those responsible for law enforcement relax unrestrained criminality emerges. The Biblical axiom that lawlessness must be subdued by lawful violence was all but forgotten.
People's old sin natures are always potential time bombs that must be restrained by just and righteous law enforcement.
Without the laws of divine establishment in the souls of the people "freedom and privacy" cannot apply instead everyone must be on guard against everyone else. This loss of integrity is characteristic of the decline of a nation.
Micah 7:5-6; Do not trust in a neighbor; Do not have confidence in a friend. From her who lies in your bosom Guard your lips.
v6 For son treats father contemptuously, Daughter rises up against her mother, Daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; A man's enemies are the men of his own household.
Matt 10:34-35; "Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword (conflict).
v35 "For I came to SET A MAN AGAINST HIS FATHER, AND A DAUGHTER AGAINST HER MOTHER, AND A DAUGHTER-IN-LAW AGAINST HER MOTHER-IN-LAW; and A MAN'S ENEMIES WILL BE THE MEMBERS OF HIS HOUSEHOLD.
Luke 21:16-17; "But you will be betrayed even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death, and you will be hated by all because of My Name. (Jesus Christ and His Word of truth)
Jer 9:5; Everyone deceives (cheats) his neighbor, and does not speak the truth. (is not honest) They have trained their tongues to speak lies; they wear themselves out thinking about sinning. (The human sin nature is a reality)
Rom 3:4; May it never be! Rather, let God be found true, though every man be found a liar, as it is written, "THAT YOU MAY BE JUSTIFIED IN YOUR WORDS, AND PREVAIL WHEN YOU ARE ACCUSED." (God is always right and truth vindicates itself) 2Cor 13:8;)
With no restraint from law or truth reversionistic people will deceive and cheat each other; they will be unfaithful in business as well as in their social and sexual relationships.
When apostasy is the order of the day, they literally "wear themselves out perverting their thoughts." We see this occurring in our country today. This what is described in Rom 1:24-32;
Jer 9:6; You live in a place of the deceit of moral and immoral degeneracy in deceit, they refuse to acknowledge Me: declares the LORD. see also NET
God had blessed them with abundance but His people refused to acknowledge Him. Negative volition toward Truth led to blackout of the soul, scar tissue and reverse process reversionism so God had to put them in the Divine refinery to purify them.
Jer 9:7-8; NET Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, "Behold, I will refine (Discipline) them and assay them; (Examine to remove the false thinking and or people) For what else can I do, because of the daughter of My people? (Members of My family)
v8 "Their tongue is a deadly arrow; It speaks deceit; With his mouth one speaks peace to his neighbor, But inwardly (His thinking) he sets an ambush for him.
The Lord would keep them in the furnace until the unclean thoughts were removed or they died the sin unto death because they refused due to their hatred of truth.