Jeremiah (1-31) 4:1 Commentary and Bible Study

‘If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the LORD, return unto me: and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight, then shalt thou not remove [or be taken into captivity].’ In this chapter we are being shown the deep feelings of Jeremiah. It is about the feelings of the soul winner, for no one who wants to be a soul winner can be unmoved at the plight of the lost. if we go back to chapter 3 and verse 22, there is the great appeal: ‘Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings.’ That is the appeal that God makes to the people of Judah and Jerusalem. Israel has long since been taken into captivity, but this is the appeal that is made with a promise attached: ‘I will heal your backslidings.’ But at the same time, Jeremiah is told that the appeal is going to be fruitless, that the people will not respond. Nevertheless he is to make that appeal. He is also told that though there is going to be total desolation and destruction of the land of Judah and Jerusalem, and the great captivity – the taking of the people into the Chaldean Empire into servitude – at the same time there will be remnant whom God will keep to himself. Salvation will be for a small number. But in the case of most of his hearers there will be no response. Jeremiah makes these appeals in these chapters so earnestly and feelingfully, although he knows that much of his ministry is going to be used as evidence against the people, and the heartfelt appeals he makes are going to be part of their judgment. So that is something to consider: that in times when God is acting in judgment towards a generation or a community or people; at such times we are to go on appealing for souls, because our ministry will not only be used to the salvation of some, it is also essential for the judgment of those who are lost that God appealed to them, that they rejected him in spite of heartfelt appeals. We have to make those urgings and appeals earnestly and feelingfully. These words give us an insight into repentance there as the prophet preaches to them, and warns them that repentance is a matter of turning from idolatry to God, and of putting away their abominations. They must see their sin the same way that God does, as something of disgust. It is a way of expressing repentance before God: to desire to be free from them, to cry out to God for deliverance from them, to put them away, and by God's help to be determined to do so. That is essential for the promise of God to be given to them.The promise, and the encouragement, is that if they obey, they will have stability and protection – ‘then shalt thou not remove.’ God will intervene on their behalf again. The reason they are exposed to their enemies is not because the enemies are too powerful, but because the Lord has withdrawn his protection on account of their idolatry.