Day 228

Repent! Repent!

Read: Jeremiah 6-7

Jeremiah describes what will happen in the near future. Jerusalem will be besieged because “this is the city which must be punished” (6:6). This happened later in Jeremiah’s own lifetime. Again and again he said “thus says the Lord” and then described the results of the people’s failure to repent.

Judah had come to believe that Jerusalem could not be destroyed because the temple was there. Jeremiah is instructed to stand at the temple and tell them that they are mistaken. Only if they will amend their ways, that is, truly repent, will Jerusalem be spared. They must execute justice, stop oppressing the weak members of their society, stop the murders which were taking place, and stop worshiping gods who in reality were no gods. Sounds like a good agenda for us today.

Instead they were stealing, murdering, committing adultery, swearing, and worshiping false gods and then going to church thinking everything would be all right. Jeremiah reminds them that although Shiloh had been the site of the tabernacle, it was destroyed. Church buildings on every corner will only be a witness against the ungodly in the day of judgment.

They worshiped the “queen of heaven,” that is, Ashtoreth, the main female deity of the Canaanites. They sacrificed their children in the valley of Hinnom, which later became the name for hell (Gehenna).

PRAYER
Father, grant unto each of us a repentant spirit, a genuine sorrow for sin and a turning from it. For Jesus’ sake. Amen.