Jeremiah (1-31) 4:10 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Jeremiah (1-31) 4:10

Comments

What is this? The prophet, presuming to chastise God, and call out God for deceiving the people! Is that what is going on? No, it is quite different from that. What Jeremiah says is absolutely true, but he means this: ‘Ah Lord GOD!,’ surely thou art behind this apparent deceiving of the people.’ It is God who even before the Chaldeans invaded, allowed the false prophets to take over the minds of the people: the liars, the false priests, and prophets. It is part of the judgment. God has sent the delusion, as well as the invasion. That is what Jeremiah means. ‘Then said I,’ – this is an affirmation of a sovereign act of God – ‘Ah Lord GOD!,’ surely thou hast done this – taken away thy protective hand, and exposed the people to great deception, and they have willingly received it. This is Jeremiah’s recognition of what God has done in worship. ‘Ah Lord GOD!, surely thou hast greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall have peace.’ Well no prophet of God said that; it was the false prophets that said, Peace, peace, when there is no peace.’ But even they are part of the judgment of God, and they will be punished as well in due course. ‘Whereas the sword reacheth unto the soul’, the most tender part, the most vulnerable part, the most critical part. God strikes man at his core.‘At that time’ – this is the state and condition that will come to the land – ‘At that time shall it be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A dry wind of the high places’, that is, an intense burning desert wind. It doesn't cool; it doesn't help anything. It just withers and destroys. ‘A dry wind of the high places in the wilderness.’ Look at the way the language changes. Verse 11 starts, ‘It shall be said to this people and to Jerusalem’, and see how the verse ends: ‘toward the daughter of my people.’ This is God speaking. He begins saying, ‘This is coming to them’, and ends saying, this is coming to my people. God is going to allow his own people, favoured by him in that dispensation, to be punished. They didn't believe it could happen. ‘We are God's people. There can never be such an invasion.’ But God will even seemingly sacrifice some of his own honour to work out his judgment. ‘Even a full wind from those places shall come unto me: now also will I give sentence against them.’ Then the descriptive language of verse 13: ‘Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots shall be as a whirlwind.’ This is Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldeans. ‘: his horses are swifter than eagles.’ They are not, of course, but that is how it seems. There are so many of them, and the invasion comes so suddenly. ‘Woe unto us! for we are spoiled’, that is to say, all our good things are taken from us. Jeremiah sees this from the perspective of his people, and although they are guilty, he feels great compassion for them.

Application

So you wonder when you see the extreme atheism today, and its militancy, and the attacks upon God and the faith, and the shutting out wherever possible of anything spiritual; – for the BBC and everywhere else – you wonder if this is not itself a judgment that God has at last taken account of the obduracy of the people, and the rebellion, and the unbelief. It is as if God has said, ‘If that is your mind – utter unbelief – then I will seal you in it, and I will send strong delusion.’ This is the 2 Thessalonians, isn’t it? Strong delusion; and people will fall into every absurd lie of evolution and so on, and take it all in, without question, however preposterous.

In the same way a church today cannot say, ‘Oh, we can do as we like. We can play fast and loose with the word of God. God won’t judge us, because that will bring dishonour upon his word and his holy name.’ God is so just, that even if it costs him that, there will appear to be failure in his church. He will bring it about, if there is sin. ‘Even though my honour is vested in them, I will still punish them for their sin.’

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Jeremiah (1-31) 4:10 Commentary and Bible Study