A Certain Judgment

Jeremiah 15:1-9 

1 Then the LORD said to me, "Even if Moses and Samuel stood before Me, My mind would not be favorable toward this people. Cast them out of My sight, and let them go forth. 2 And it shall be, if they say to you, 'Where should we go?' then you shall tell them, 'Thus says the LORD:

"Such as are for death, to death;
And such as are for the sword, to the sword;
And such as are for the famine, to the famine;
And such as are for the captivity, to the captivity."'

3 "And I will appoint over them four forms of destruction," says the LORD: "the sword to slay, the dogs to drag, the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy. 4 I will hand them over to trouble, to all kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem.

5 "For who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem?
Or who will bemoan you?
Or who will turn aside to ask how you are doing?

6 You have forsaken Me," says the LORD,
"You have gone backward.
Therefore I will stretch out My hand against you and destroy you;
I am weary of relenting!

7 And I will winnow them with a winnowing fan in the gates of the land;
I will bereave them of children;
I will destroy My people,
Since they do not return from their ways.

8 Their widows will be increased to Me more than the sand of the seas;
I will bring against them,
Against the mother of the young men,
A plunderer at noonday;
I will cause anguish and terror to fall on them suddenly.

9 "She languishes who has borne seven;
She has breathed her last;
Her sun has gone down
While it was yet day;
She has been ashamed and confounded.
And the remnant of them I will deliver to the sword
Before their enemies," says the LORD.

The LORD would not relent from His pending and overdue judgment on those of His people who continually rejected Him and disobeyed His word by their idolatry and disregard of His holiness.  Because these refused to repent and turn from their sin to Him, not even Moses who spoke face to face with Him or faithful Samuel could dissuade Him from this.  They were handed over to reap what they had sown from the sword, famine, and captivity, death for death as payment earned.  There was no more mercy because they abused and disregarded it so many times before, revealing their hardened hearts set on disobedience and rebellion against their Maker and Sustainer.  God even set forth four specific ways they would be taken care of: the sword of their enemies killing them, dogs to drag them off like Jezebel, birds to pick them to death, and carnivorous animals to kill and devour them.  This is a picture of God’s wrath on unrepentant sin which will be magnified even more in the last days before the final judgment for those refusing to repent and trust into Jesus Christ for mercy and deliverance from the fair and due sentence.  Because they had forsaken the LORD by consistently going back away from heeding His word and learning from His correction, they would be likewise forsaken.  His winnowing fan would blow the sinful chaff to be burned (Psalm 1:3-5, Matthew 3:12) and leave only a small remnant of the faithful seed to find grace in mercy because they still trusted Him and had not forsaken their God and had turned from their sinful ways to be holy as He is.  Those who continued in unrepentant sin found only plundering of all they had with anguish and a rush of terror as they left many widows behind for their hardened hearts and deaf ears.  Even the remnant of those so judged and sentenced would be hard pressed to escape judgment through the hand of their enemies.  Likewise in the final day of judgment those who refused to believe His work (John 6:29) and turn from sin to Him will be delivered to the final enemy of everlasting death instead of the everlasting life promised to those who humble themselves and find grace unto deliverance from that judgment.  May we then help others to be reconciled to God in Christ before that day comes upon them as a thief (1 Thessalonians 5:2, 2 Peter 3:10).  There is a certain judgment, but there is also a certain and eternal hope (Titus 1:2-3) of peace with God in Christ (Romans 5:1) for the remnant of all who hear the gospel and turn to Him instead of hardening their hearts.