AT HOME IN THE FATHER’S HEART ~ A Study in Jeremiah

Many different cultures in the world have a spiritual connection to their land. It not only becomes part of their spirituality but their very identity. This is seen even in the most pagan tribal cultures. Our “land” becomes associated with our history, our stories. Why do we think about our roots in hard times? Our roots signify our people and our home. I heard a recent graduation ceremony in which a leader of the school district offered these parting words (or something to this effect): We have had a hard end to our school year. But we have adapted. Use this time as a future reminder in difficult times when circumstances are out of your control. Remember this one thing: You can always come home.

Psalm 37:3—Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. Verse 9: For evildoers will be cut off, but those who wait for the LORD, they will inherit the land. Verse 11: But the humble will inherit the land and will delight themselves in abundant prosperity. Verse 22: For those blessed by Him will inherit the land, but those cursed by Him will be cut off. Verse 29: The righteous will inherit the land and dwell in it forever. Verse 34: Wait for the LORD and keep His way, and He will exalt you to inherit the land; when the wicked are cut off, you will see it.

Early in Genesis, God had promised a land to Abraham and his descendants. The land of Canaan was not just any land, it was the sworn inheritance of God’s chosen people. He declared to them that He would give it to His people as an everlasting possession. They associated their land with God’s favor upon them.

Imagine this scenario: You inherit a land where you and your family and future generations can dwell in peace and safety. It is the place where memories are made, goodness flows, and abundant life flourishes. Battles rage all around you from enemies whose only purpose is to destroy you, but your safety and protection is sure because of the One who fights for you. Only through deceit are these enemies able to break through the walls of this fortress. By attacking your mindset and tempting you to believe that your life is not all that it could be within the boundaries of this land and the One who watches over you, will you fall prey to their allurements. Persistent to convince you that you are being held back, restricted somehow, they will not surrender easily. While not using the normal tactics of warfare to defeat their enemies they, instead of charging in with weapons of warfare, come alongside to cajole and plant seeds of doubt. One day, captivated by the enticing bait used by the enemy (a hook uniquely baited for you alone), you step out of that sure safety and protection to pursue the enemy, to make alliances with him in exchange for your undivided loyalty. You sell out for the promise of better things. It’s an absurd scenario, right? However, the rest is, as they say, history…for this is exactly what we are reading about in the pages of Jeremiah. And we are just as vulnerable to the schemes of the enemy of our souls.

The land of Canaan represents to the believer in Jesus Christ all God’s richest blessings. How do we relate to the land of Canaan? Conquering Canaan is living the victorious Christian life amidst the spiritual warfare that all believers deal with on a continual basis. In this life, we will fight these spiritual battles as well as receive the abundant blessings of being God’s own children. 2 Corinthians 10:3-5—For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. What is associated with the inheritance of the land is the idea of entering into God’s rest as seen in Hebrews 4-5. Believers find this spiritual rest and victory in their promised inheritance in Jesus Christ. Our inheritance, in all its glory, is outlined for us in Ephesians 1:3-23.

“Then I said, ‘How I would set you among My sons and give you a pleasant land, the most beautiful inheritance of the nations!’ And I said, ‘You shall call Me, My Father, and not turn away from following Me.’ (Jeremiah 3:19) Looking back at all the unfaithfulness, God asks Israel how they expect Him to show them His favor? How can they possibly expect to receive their inheritance? How will He receive them back into the family? He quickly answers His own question. Left to themselves, He could not show them favor. He says, however, ‘You shall call Me, My Father, and not turn away from following Me.’ There would be an inner transformation of the heart that would take place in His people. This was a hint at what would later be talked about in the New Covenant.

Interestingly, ‘set you among My sons’ refers to adoption. Adoption in the Greek means putting among the sons or the children…huiothesia. They would one day acknowledge God as their Father and would no longer turn away from Him.

Surely, as a woman treacherously departs from her lover, so you have dealt treacherously with Me, O house of Israel,” declares the LORD. A voice is heard on the bare heights, the weeping, and the supplications of the sons of Israel; because they have perverted their way, they have forgotten the LORD their God. (Jeremiah 3:20-21) Yes, she had been unfaithful. She left Him, totally unprovoked in doing so. It was a traitorous act of rebellion. One simple little consonant here gives us a huge picture of God’s heart toward Israel. In ‘O house of Israel,’ you can hear the gut-wrenching cries of God’s pain through the words of His prophet. His compassion and disappointment are equal in intensity. Even in judgment, compassion is still evident. The prophet relays what God knows as the future repentance of Israel. There was a day coming wherein they would weep and pray in public humiliation and repentance on the very same locations as they went about spiritually prostituting themselves with their false lovers. This time they would not be lamenting over all the calamitous events which had taken place as the consequences of their sin. They would weep bitterly over their sins as that which had offended the One who loved them with an everlasting love. They would come to see their adultery for what it was in God’s sight. What would be His response on that day?

With wide open arms, He would say: “Return, O faithless sons, I will heal your faithlessness.” (Jeremiah 3:22) Their repentance would lead to their conversion. He would heal their unfaithfulness. When He accepted her once again and received her back to Himself, she would say: “Behold, we come to You; for You are the LORD our God. Surely, the hills are a deception, a tumult on the mountains, surely in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel. But the shameful thing has consumed the labor of our fathers since our youth, and their daughters. Let us lie down in our shame, and let our humiliation cover us; for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day. And we have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.” (Jeremiah 3:23-25) Acknowledging God as the one true God…their God…was all they needed to denounce every other false God and follow and serve Him once for all. He would give them hearts that were bent towards Him.

Zechariah 12:10 says: “I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.”

Where they had forgotten Him and turned away in rebellion, they would one day remember and return to Him in mournful repentance as they realize they had brought destruction upon themselves by worshipping false gods. This realization slays them in shame and humiliation. In helplessness, they turn to Him in repentance for the restoration they know they so desperately need. Only He can heal them and restore them to a right relationship with Him. God loves a humble heart, so He will faithfully rescue them from their distress and despair.

The hills are a deception, they say. This word for deception means an untruth, by implication, a sham, falsehood, lying, vain. What false worship promises is a lie. …a tumult on the mountains…tumult means sound, murmur, rush, roar, confusion, abundance, and wealth. Those who run to worship false gods believe they will be a help to them in their day of need. But salvation is only found in the Lord. It is vanity to trust in idols. But the shameful thing…literally, the shameful thing is “an idol, which deceives the hope of the worshipper and puts them to shame.” Interestingly, the shameful thing (the article is emphatic in the Hebrew) is Baal, the god of shame. Jeremiah 11:13 identifies for us the shameful thing: For your gods are as many as your cities, O Judah; and as many as the streets of Jerusalem are the altars you have set up to the shameful thing, altars to burn incense to Baal. Hosea 9:10 says: I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your forefathers as the earliest fruit on the fig tree in its first season. But they came to Baal-peor and devoted themselves to shame, and they became as detestable as that which they loved. They had turned from the true God devoting themselves to Baal; and he returned their devotion by turning on them and devouring, wasting, or destroying their whole lives. So it is with idols.

 

Let us lie down in our shame…lie down is a wordplay relating to what she had done with her idols, with a sexual connotation. Shame is the same word as shameful in verse 24. Instead of standing in proud arrogance against the Lord, they needed to lie down in shameful humiliation acknowledging their sin for what it was and accepting the consequences from their own actions. …let our humiliation cover us…they were overwhelmed by their humiliation wearing their shame, reproach, disgrace, and dishonor as an outward sign of an inward repentance.

 

Throughout their idolatry, God had continued to call to them, “You can always come home!” No matter what we have done, we can know that in repentance we can always go home to our Father and find rest for our weary souls. Is your home worth fighting for?