Jeremiah (1-31) 5:1 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Jeremiah (1-31) 5:1

Comments

In this chapter the prophets turns away from unfolding his approach to unconverted people, and his calls to repentance, in order to issue a judgment of God. In chapter 6 he returns to his calls to repentance, and he uses various arguments to persuade the people. But all is going to be fruitless; he has already been warned of this; but still he is to preach to them, and he does so. Here in this chapter is the condemnation, with two very bright lights in the chapter. ‘Run ye to and fro.’ There is urgency here. As quickly as you can, run through the city; examine all the houses in the streets of Jerusalem, ‘and see now’, examine the situation, check the families, the menfolk and the women, ‘and know and seek in the broad places.’ The modern translations tend to go for the public squares, and that is undoubtedly what it means: the marketplaces, the places where people gather. Knock the doors and stand in the marketplaces. ‘And see if you can find a man [a single individual]’, if there be any who lives for honesty and truth. Think of all the market traders. Are they straightforward? Are they honest? Do they seek the truth of God above all? ‘And I will pardon the city, if you can find one.’ The Lord sets this low bar as a condition for pardoning all, but even this is out of reach for them. Well this is startling: that this could be said. It obviously conveys to us the state of things in the city of Jerusalem, even though there was a reforming king on the throne. From this remarkable series of messages from Jeremiah we learn how to plead with souls. Jeremiah knows that there will be no response to his appeals to the nation. He knows that. His words say as much. Every now and then there is a verse which indicates that there will be no response, that the judgment is as good as done, that it is inevitable, that the people will never repent: at least, not as a city. This is addressed to the occupants of Jerusalem, and no doubt to the people of Judah roundabout, but principally everything is directed to Jerusalem. The Babylonians are at hand. Shortly they will invade. Somehow, the people have convinced themselves that they are safe, in spite of the almost inevitability of this even humanly speaking, and the destruction of their city. Jeremiah knows they will not listen to him, and yet he appeals.

Application

These arguments and remonstrations are for us. We here see the way in which even the prophets of old appealed to souls, and reasoned with them. ‘Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem.’ This seems to be answering the earlier claim: ‘We do not deserve punishment. We are not that bad’, and we hear that today when we are witnessing. We know that this is often the reaction to preaching and to tracts handed out. People will hear this message that man is fallen, that we have depraved hearts, that we have sinned away our years and we need the forgiveness of God, and that without it we shall be banished from his presence eternally. They hear that and they say, ‘This is a bit much. I am not that bad; the human race is not that bad’, and this seems to have been a complaint even in Jeremiah’s days. Those Jewish inhabitants of Jerusalem seem to have this on their mind. Well we preach the universality of the fall of man. We preach the depravity of the human heart. Not that we mean that the human heart is one hundred percent bad, but we mean that every department of the human being is tainted with sin; with sinful thoughts and plans and ideas, with sinful tastes and urges and desires, with fallen words and deeds. Every department of the person is tainted and spoiled; every plan we have, every scheme, every great human project. Even if it is for good, even if it is some kind of health promoting project, somebody will be in it for excessive profit, somebody will be cheating somewhere. Every department of life is tainted and unfit for heaven, and due for judgment. That is what we teach, and people don't like it. The unbeliever hears this and reacts to it. So we challenge him: ‘You find somebody who is good enough for God.’ ‘I will, I will. I am sure there are famous people, well-known people, people who are philanthropic, generous, good and kind’ Well of course there is no such person, and great people die and the biographies are written, and the truth is told, and the secrets come out, and very often the debunking is underway. No, the doctrine of depravity is true. It’s not only true, it's the great proof of the Bible as the only right analysis of human beings.

Questions

Why does Jeremiah make such earnest appeals to the people to repent and to turn, when he knows full well that they will never respond? There are roughly four reasons.

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First of all, it is necessary for God's actions to be justified, for God to be seen to be just and fair and right. In all warnings and the appeals, there are clear statements of exactly what the people of Judah and Jerusalem have done wrong, and how they have repeatedly offended the Lord, over a very long period of time, and have ignored not only his warnings but also his disciplines. He has withheld the rains; he has done all kinds of things, and they have known – the prophets have told them, the word has previously predicted it – that these things would be judgments for certain sins, but nothing can make them listen. So these appeals and statements are made so that God will be seen to be just.

Secondly, it is to show the mind of God in this. God would have them repent. It is not his desire that they should be judged and perish. If only they would have repented and turned. The heart of God is revealed in the appeals. They will not turn, but you can see the compassion in the heart of God in all these appeals.

A third reason, which is given elsewhere in the Scripture, is to highlight their guilt, to underscore it, again, so that God may be just. Because they have not only committed the sins, but they have resisted the most earnest appeals from the weeping eleventh hour prophet, Jeremiah. That stands against their account: that they have not only done the things that are stated, but they have resisted all the tender appeals and promises of God. We see that always when the gospel is preached. Whoever hears the gospel and rejects the mercy of God is even more responsible before God than if they had never heard the gospel.

But then there is another reason. These impassioned pleas are directed also to individuals. The city won't repent; the land won't repent, but individuals may. Individuals who go against the whole trend, in whose heart there is a work of the Spirit, may repent, and may turn. Jeremiah is going after them with precious arguments and remonstrations.

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Outline

Purpose

Introduction

Jeremiah (1-31) 5:1 Commentary and Bible Study