Articles
They Didn’t Listen, Will You?
They Didn’t Listen, Will You?
Greg King
Jeremiah the prophet lived in the final days of the crumbling nation of Israel. He was, appropriately, the last prophet that God sent to preach to the southern kingdom, which comprised the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. God had repeatedly warned Israel to stop their idolatrous behavior, but they would not listen, so He tore the 12 tribes apart, sending the 10 northern tribes into captivity at the hands of the Assyrians. Then God sent Jeremiah to give Judah the last warning before He cast them out of the land, decimating the nation and sending them into captivity in the pagan kingdom of Babylon. Jeremiah, a faithful, God-fearing man, was called to tell Israel that because of their unrepentant sin their God had turned against them and was now prepared to remove them from the land at the hands of a pagan king. No doubt Jeremiah, who was only about 17 when God called him, had great inner turmoil over the fate of his people, and he begged them to listen. His preaching fell on deaf ears because the people were very corrupt. Jeremiah pleaded for the people to return to God’s way and “walk in the old paths” of God’s Law but they refused (Jeremiah 6:16). Then Jeremiah prophesied that one day God would make a new covenant with His people. It would be different from the covenant He had made with them at Mt. Sinai. That covenant was written on tables of stone. This new covenant would be written on human hearts (Jeremiah 31:31-34). The new covenant is the New Testament, the Law of Christ (Hebrews 8:6-13; 2 Corinthians 3). Jeremiah taught the important lesson that man, by himself, cannot find his way. He must rely upon God and His Word if he would be saved from his sins (Jeremiah 10:23). He is known as “the weeping prophet,” because he cried tears of sadness, not only because he knew what was about to happen, but because no matter how hard he tried the people would not listen. Will you listen to God and follow Jesus? Luke 6:46 “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?”
