The Undoing of Creation: Disaster from the North (Jer. 4:5-31)

It must have seemed odd to King Josiah – the best king in the history of Jerusalem – to have this message proclaimed in the midst of reformation and renewal.

Disaster is coming from the north!

After all, the Assyrian empire was crumbling. Babylon had revolted, and so the powers of the age were enmeshed in civil war and internal crises. Jerusalem was free from external constraint.

It was a good time to be a reforming king!

But then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: it's too late.

Josiah might have said, “But we have repented! Look at all my reforms in worship!”

But Jeremiah’s message is that your repentance is half-hearted! Your repentance isn’t good enough!

The outward reformation of worship cannot save Jerusalem. Your heart must change: As we saw last time – “Circumcise yourselves to the LORD; remove the foreskin of your hearts” (4:4); or as he says in 4:14 – “wash your heart from evil, that you may be saved”!