Be Warned Lest Destruction Come

Rev. Jeff Hemmer, pastor at Bethany Lutheran Church in Fairview Heights, IL, joins host Rev. Timothy Appel to study Jeremiah 6:1-30.

The LORD’s people think that Jerusalem must be the place of safety, but Jeremiah assures them that it is actually the world’s most dangerous place. Because they are only full of violence and destruction, the LORD of Hosts has brought foreign armies against His people. As Jeremiah grows weary from preaching God’s wrath, false prophets do not grow weary of proclaiming a peace that does not exist. They refuse to return to the ancient way of God; they refuse the warning of His prophets. They take false comfort in their outward rituals without true faith in the true God. Jeremiah sounds the warning again; Babylon is coming with utter destruction. The people of Jerusalem will despair; the LORD has tested them and found them wanting. Through it all, the LORD does give a glimmer of hope through the prophet; He sends His warning so that they will turn, even now, and be spared, not simply from Babylon, but from eternal judgment.

“A Time to Destroy and a Time to Build” is a mini-series on Sharper Iron that goes through the book of Jeremiah. The prophet calls the people of Judah and Jerusalem to repent of their faithless idolatry and warns them of the destruction that is coming in the Babylonian exile. Yet Jeremiah does not leave us without hope in the midst of such dark days. Jeremiah and all who believe the Word of God he preached survive because of hope that is found in the righteous Branch from the line of David, Jesus Christ.