Jeremiah 16:5-14 (ESV)
5 “For thus says the LORD: Do not enter the house of mourning, or go to lament or grieve for them, for I have taken away my peace from this people, my steadfast love and mercy, declares the LORD. 6 Both great and small shall die in this land. They shall not be buried, and no one shall lament for them or cut himself or make himself bald for them. 7 No one shall break bread for the mourner, to comfort him for the dead, nor shall anyone give him the cup of consolation to drink for his father or his mother. 8 You shall not go into the house of feasting to sit with them, to eat and drink. 9 For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will silence in this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.
Jeremiah is instructed to no longer lament over the nation. He is told to not feel sorry for them. He is told not to go and feast with them. He is told not to hold any type of celebration and, in fact, God will silence any type of gladness or joy. Why?
If you want a reason for this and a summary of Jeremiah’s message to the nation of God’s people, this is it. The following verses tell us why God is bringing them into judgement:
10 “And when you tell this people all these words, and they say to you, ‘Why has the LORD pronounced all this great evil against us? What is our iniquity? What is the sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?’ 11 then you shall say to them: ‘Because your fathers have forsaken me, declares the LORD, and have gone after other gods and have served and worshiped them, and have forsaken me and have not kept my law, 12 and because you have done worse than your fathers, for behold, every one of you follows his stubborn, evil will, refusing to listen to me. 13 Therefore I will hurl you out of this land into a land that neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favor.’
The LORD Will Restore Israel
God is going to punish them for their rejection of Him as their God. God will no longer have mercy on the because they rejected Him. Because they have forsaken Him, He will forsake them.
Yet, here is the marvelous story of the Cross and the marvelous demonstration of God’s on-ending love and faithfulness. Note the next two verses:
14 “Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when it shall no longer be said, ‘As the LORD lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ 15 but ‘As the LORD lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.’ For I will bring them back to their own land that I gave to their fathers.
Those who repent will be saved! That is the story of Jeremiah and the Gospel. God will restore those who repent of their sins and turn to Him in love. That is forever the story of the Bible.
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