Jeremiah 7:21 says, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Put your burnt offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat flesh. I believe that God was telling the people of Judah that their burnt offerings were just as unacceptable as their sacrifices. Burnt offerings were supposed to be completely consumed, but God told them that they might as well leave some to eat for all the good they were doing. Verse twenty-two states, For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices: Verse twenty-three adds, But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you. God said that the sacrifices were never about the ritual, but about the covenant relationship between the people of Israel and Him. They were a sign of obedience. Our service to God today is still about obedience to our relationship with Him and not about any particular ritual that we may go through claiming to worship Him. Verse twenty-four declares, But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward. God said that the people would not listen to Him but walked in their own council. As followers of Christ, we need to make sure that we are listening to Him and not just claiming that whatever we decide to do is His will. Verse twenty-five continues, Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day I have even sent unto you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them: God said that ever since He led the people of Israel out of Egypt that He had sent prophets that rose up early to proclaim His word, but that the people would not listen to them. We have preachers today to proclaim God's word, but we have One even greater, the Holy Spirit, to guide us, from the time we get up to the time we go to bed, and even through the night, but the question is do we listen to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Verse twenty-six concludes, Yet they hearkened not unto me, nor inclined their ear, but hardened their neck: they did worse than their fathers. God said that His chosen people did not listen to Him. We must never reach the point that as Christians we have stopped listening to God when He speaks to us, and He will speak to us. Verse twenty-seven declares, Therefore thou shalt speak all these words unto them; but they will not hearken to thee: thou shalt also call unto them; but they will not answer thee. God told Jeremiah that he was to speak all of God's message to the people, but they would not listen. If we were given the same task today, being told by God to witness to people who would not listen, would be faithfully do so? It is only our responsibility to witness, and it is God's responsibility to bring about fruit from our witness. We are not excused by saying that nobody listens anyway. Verse twenty-eight adds, But thou shalt say unto them, This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the LORD their God, nor receiveth correction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth. God told Jeremiah that he was to tell the people of Judah that they did not listen to God. This was not going to be a popular message, because the people wanted to claim that they were still God's people. Verse twenty-nine says, Cut off thine hair, O Jerusalem, and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on high places; for the LORD hath rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath. Jeremiah was to call the people to true repentance. even if they would not obey. We are to call people to true repentance today through faith in Jesus Christ, even if they will not listen. Verse thirty adds, For the children of Judah have done evil in my sight, saith the LORD: they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to pollute it. God said His judgment was coming because the people of Judah had polluted His house. Since as followers of Christ our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, we need to insure that we do not pollute it. Verse thirty-one continues, And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart. God said the people of Judah were even offering child sacrifices, which He neither commanded nor would never have even thought of. We need to be careful that we do not attempt to claim that things that we do are acts of worship to God if they are not in accordance with His word. Verse thirty-two states, Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall no more be called Tophet, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter: for they shall bury in Tophet, till there be no place. God said that the place where these child sacrifices were being done would be destroyed and completely forgotten. Verse thirty-three adds, And the carcases of this people shall be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth; and none shall fray them away. The people who had been carrying out these sacrifices were to become food for the birds. They wouldn't even have a proper burial. Verse thirty-four concludes, Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride: for the land shall be desolate. God told Jeremiah that there was going to be no happiness left in the cities of Judah. If we are outside the will of God today, there can be no real happiness in our lives. No matter the situation, true happiness comes only from God.
Jeremiah 7:21 says,
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