They have refused to repent

Jeremiah 5 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

“Roam to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, And look now and take note. And seek in her open squares, If you can find a man, If there is one who does justice, who seeks truth, Then I will pardon her. ² “And although they say, ‘As the Lord lives,’ Surely they swear falsely.” ³ O Lord, do not Your eyes look for truth? You have smitten them, But they did not weaken; You have consumed them, But they refused to take correction.
They have made their faces harder than rock; They have refused to repent.

⁴ Then I said, “They are only the poor, They are foolish; For they do not know the way of the Lord Or the ordinance of their God. ⁵ “I will go to the great And will speak to them, For they know the way of the Lord And the ordinance of their God.” But they too, with one accord, have broken the yoke And burst the bonds. ⁶ Therefore a lion from the forest will slay them,
A wolf of the deserts will destroy them, A leopard is watching their cities.
Everyone who goes out of them will be torn in pieces, Because their transgressions are many, Their apostasies are numerous.

⁷ “Why should I pardon you? Your sons have forsaken Me And sworn by those who are not gods. When I had fed them to the full, They committed adultery And trooped to the harlot’s house. ⁸ “They were well-fed lusty horses, Each one neighing after his neighbor’s wife. ⁹ “Shall I not punish these people,” declares the Lord, “And on a nation such as this
Shall I not avenge Myself?

¹⁰ “Go up through her vine rows and destroy, But do not execute a complete destruction; Strip away her branches, For they are not the Lord’s. ¹¹ “For the house of Israel and the house of Judah Have dealt very treacherously with Me,” declares the Lord. ¹² They have lied about the Lord And said, “Not He; Misfortune will not come on us, And we will not see sword or famine.
¹³ “The prophets are as wind, And the word is not in them. Thus it will be done to them!”

¹⁴ Therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, “Because you have spoken this word, Behold, I am making My words in your mouth fire
And this people wood, and it will consume them. ¹⁵ “Behold, I am bringing a nation against you from afar, O house of Israel,” declares the Lord.
“It is an enduring nation, It is an ancient nation, A nation whose language you do not know, Nor can you understand what they say. ¹⁶ “Their quiver is like an open grave, All of them are mighty men. ¹⁷ “They will devour your harvest and your food; They will devour your sons and your daughters;
They will devour your flocks and your herds; They will devour your vines and your fig trees; They will demolish with the sword your fortified cities in which you trust.

¹⁸ “Yet even in those days,” declares the Lord, “I will not make you a complete destruction. ¹⁹ It shall come about when they say, ‘Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us?’ then you shall say to them, ‘As you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your land, so you will serve strangers in a land that is not yours.’

²⁰ “Declare this in the house of Jacob And proclaim it in Judah, saying,
²¹ ‘Now hear this, O foolish and senseless people, Who have eyes but do not see; Who have ears but do not hear. ²² ‘Do you not fear Me?’ declares the Lord. ‘Do you not tremble in My presence? For I have placed the sand as a boundary for the sea, An eternal decree, so it cannot cross over it.
Though the waves toss, yet they cannot prevail; Though they roar, yet they cannot cross over it. ²³ ‘But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart;
They have turned aside and departed. ²⁴ ‘They do not say in their heart,
“Let us now fear the Lord our God, Who gives rain in its season, Both the autumn rain and the spring rain, Who keeps for us The appointed weeks of the harvest.” ²⁵ ‘Your iniquities have turned these away, And your sins have withheld good from you. ²⁶ ‘For wicked men are found among My people,
They watch like fowlers lying in wait; They set a trap, They catch men.
²⁷ ‘Like a cage full of birds, So their houses are full of deceit; Therefore they have become great and rich. ²⁸ ‘They are fat, they are sleek, They also excel in deeds of wickedness; They do not plead the cause, The cause of the orphan, that they may prosper; And they do not defend the rights of the poor. ²⁹ ‘Shall I not punish these people?’ declares the Lord, ‘On a nation such as this Shall I not avenge Myself?’

³⁰ “An appalling and horrible thing Has happened in the land: ³¹ The prophets prophesy falsely, And the priests rule on their own authority; And My people love it so! But what will you do at the end of it?

Psalm 14:1-3 says:  The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, they have committed abominable deeds; There is no one who does good.  The Lord has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men To see if there are any who understand, Who seek after God.  They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt; There is no one who does good, not even one.  In today’s text it says:  “Roam to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, And look now and take note. And seek in her open squares, If you can find a man, If there is one who does justice, who seeks truth, Then I will pardon her.  “And although they say, ‘As the Lord lives,’ Surely they swear falsely.”  O Lord, do not Your eyes look for truth? You have smitten them, But they did not weaken; You have consumed them, But they refused to take correction.
They have made their faces harder than rock; They have refused to repent. From the time of Adam and Eve in the garden, through the present time, it is a common and reoccurring theme that God seeks righteousness in the actions and character of people. It is also a reoccurring circumstance that righteousness is not found in people. Because over and over people have failed to walk in obedience and righteousness, because righteousness could not and cannot be found on earth in man, God sent righteousness to earth for man. John 3:16 says: God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says:  God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.  God has provided righteousness for us, but it is still necessary that we repent. Many today are like the one the psalmist speaks of, the say there is no God. Just as in the text, you could roam to and fro through the streets of our cities and not find one who does justice, who seeks truth. Why then should we expect that God would pardon us? If Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed and only Lot and his family were spared, why should our cities and our nation not also be judged, they have refused to repent?

The text says: Therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, “Because you have spoken this word, Behold, I am making My words in your mouth fire And this people wood, and it will consume them.  Behold, I am bringing a nation against you from afar, O house of Israel,” declares the Lord.
“It is an enduring nation, It is an ancient nation, A nation whose language you do not know, Nor can you understand what they say.  Their quiver is like an open grave, All of them are mighty men.  They will devour your harvest and your food; They will devour your sons and your daughters;
They will devour your flocks and your herds; They will devour your vines and your fig trees; They will demolish with the sword your fortified cities in which you trust.”  It is possible that the Lord could use another nation to bring judgment upon our land. By embracing lawlessness and pursuing peace with the world rather than peace with God, we have opened ourselves to destruction both from within and from outside. Yet still, they have refused to repent?

The text says:  “Yet even in those days,” declares the Lord, “I will not make you a complete destruction. It shall come about when they say, ‘Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us?’ then you shall say to them, ‘As you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your land, so you will serve strangers in a land that is not yours.’  “Declare this in the house of Jacob And proclaim it in Judah, saying,  ‘Now hear this, O foolish and senseless people, Who have eyes but do not see; Who have ears but do not hear.  ‘Do you not fear Me?’ declares the Lord. ‘Do you not tremble in My presence? For I have placed the sand as a boundary for the sea, An eternal decree, so it cannot cross over it. Though the waves toss, yet they cannot prevail; Though they roar, yet they cannot cross over it.  ‘But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart; They have turned aside and departed.  ‘They do not say in their heart, “Let us now fear the Lord our God, Who gives rain in its season, Both the autumn rain and the spring rain, Who keeps for us The appointed weeks of the harvest.”  ‘Your iniquities have turned these away, And your sins have withheld good from you.  ‘For wicked men are found among My people, They watch like fowlers lying in wait; They set a trap, They catch men.  ‘Like a cage full of birds, So their houses are full of deceit; Therefore they have become great and rich.  ‘They are fat, they are sleek, They also excel in deeds of wickedness; They do not plead the cause, The cause of the orphan, that they may prosper; And they do not defend the rights of the poor.  ‘Shall I not punish these people?’ declares the Lord, ‘On a nation such as this Shall I not avenge Myself?’ An appalling and horrible thing Has happened in the land:  The prophets prophesy falsely, And the priests rule on their own authority; And My people love it so! But what will you do at the end of it?”  In spite of the fact that we have not repented as a nation and a people, God will not completely destroy us. We should not expect that the nation will repent, but it is up to those who know and fear God. In 2 Chronicles 7:14 God says:  If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.  It is the people of God, those who are called by His name, that must humble themselves and pray, they- we must be the ones who seek His face and turn from our wicked ways. We must be the ones who lead the nation in repentance.

2 Peter 3:8-12 says: Beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God?  That God has not yet judged our nation does not mean that He will not. Rather, it is because His desire is that none would perish; that all would come to repentance. Because the day of judgment will come, what manner of persons ought we to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God?

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ and precious Holy Spirit, thank You that although there was none who were righteous, You gave us the righteousness of God through the cross of Christ. If there be no others, may I be one who will humble myself, and pray and seek Your face, and turn from my wicked ways, so that You will hear from heaven, and will forgive our sin and heal our land.   Amen.