DO YOU HEAR THE SIRENS AND THE LION’S ROAR? ~ A Study of Jeremiah

One quiet summer evening my husband and I decided to take my two younger sons to the playground at a local school. Amid the laughter and lighthearted frolicking around the swings and slides, a fire whistle sounded. Soon after I became a Christian, I decided that every time I heard that sound, I would stop and say a quick prayer for the people who needed help as well as the responders who were answering the call. Once I had offered a prayer, we continued our time together at the playground, but I had a sense of uneasiness in my spirit.

Not long after we returned home, we found out that my oldest son had been in an automobile accident not a mile from where we had taken the younger boys. While we did not hear the crash of his car, we did hear the siren, the warning signal to pay attention. Thankfully, the young man and my son who was driving, were not hurt badly; but do not think it did not change my response to hearing a fire siren. When circumstances like these hit close to home, we respond in heightened awareness to all such alerts in the future. At least we should.

When I began thinking about what to write for this post, I did a quick google search regarding air raid sirens. I played the YouTube video not knowing what type of sound to expect. It was exactly like that of our local fire whistles growing up. Within a few seconds the dog and my middle son came running into my room, “What do you think that is?” As my son flew to my window, he turned and noticed that I was not moving (I am usually the one who is melodramatic in the family). As he left the room, he said to my other son, “It’s just mom playing around on the computer!” A brief siren got their attention. Even the dog responded promptly.

Declare in Judah and proclaim in Jerusalem and say, “Blow the trumpet in the land; cry aloud and say, ‘Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the fortified cities.’ Lift up a standard toward Zion! Seek refuge, do not stand still, for I am bringing evil from the north, and great destruction.” (Jeremiah 4:5-6)

There are a lot of imperatives in this brief section of Scripture. Declare in Judah…proclaim in Jerusalem…say, “Blow the trumpet,…cry aloud and say” …’Assemble yourselves…go into the fortified cities.’ Declare, proclaim, blow the trumpet, cry aloud and say…All the previous warnings have gone unheeded. There is not much time left to turn back because judgment is coming. They had turned a deaf ear to God’s pleading with them to turn back to Him to date. He had been gracious, patient, and longsuffering, giving them ample time to turn back to Him. He would get their attention; they would have no excuse not to hear the call of judgment that was imminent and fast approaching. In Jeremiah’s day, blowing the trumpet was a call to assemble and take cover in fortified cities. It has been said that it is like the sounding of an air raid siren today. They were to cry aloud or fill the land with the warning that judgment is coming.

They were called to lift a standard toward Zion. A standard was a banner to be set up on high mountains, especially in case of invasion, when it showed the people where to assemble. Metaphorically, it is a sign by which any one is warned. They were to seek refuge quickly. Why? Here is the part we must stop and meditate upon because it does not fit most people’s theology. Do all these things for I am bringing evil from the north, and great destruction. God is bringing Israel’s enemy and His against them in judgment. God is bringing evil from the north and great destruction against His own people. God is holy, and He must punish sinful disobedience. They would not repent. Some in the church say, “Well, He won’t punish me because I’m chosen!” That is exactly what Israel and Judah thought.

Amos 3:2-8—"You only have I chosen among all the families of the earth; therefore, I will punish you for all your iniquities.” Do two men walk together unless they have made an appointment? Does a lion roar in the forest when he has no prey? Does a young lion growl from his den unless he has captured something? Does a bird fall into a trap on the ground when there is no bait in it? Does a trap spring up from the earth when it captures nothing at all? If a trumpet is blown in a city will not the people tremble? If a calamity occurs in a city has not the LORD done it? Surely the Lord God does nothing unless He reveals His secret counsel to His servants the prophets. A lion has roared! Who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken! Who can but prophesy? Somehow we read these prophetic books and think we are somehow far removed from God’s judgment in our country. And I am talking about the professing church in America. The great masses who profess Christianity in our country are not saved! Godly men are putting forth the call to our nation right now to repent. While people fear a virus that can kill the body, they have no fear of the sin virus that kills and condemns their soul to eternal death in hell. Yet, when judgment falls, they will not be able to say they did not hear the call to repentance. Therefore, Christians who believe the Word of God must be speaking the truth in love this very hour calling people to repentance as missionaries to our own nation. We must stop looking at everything through political eyes and see that God controls every facet of government. Our government is not our Savior!

I just watched a YouTube sermon by a man who by every sense of the word was a false teacher for years. It appears the Lord has done a miraculous work on this man’s heart having been exposed to and convicted by the true Gospel. With great mourning and deep conviction, he preached his heart out to his normal congregation calling for repentance to sin. He did not get the typical reaction of whooping and hollering that normally came with his messages. You could have heard a pin drop for most of the 48-minute message. At the end, he asked for those who would believe this gospel, who would come wholeheartedly to Christ for the right reasons, to come forward. In this massive crowd, there was a small handful of people who came forward. It is not surprising, but it is telling!

What enemy is coming in Jeremiah 4? At this point we are not told. But we know from history and Scripture that it is Babylon. She is identified by name in 20:4—For thus says the LORD, ‘Behold, I am going to make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends; and while your eyes look on, they will fall by the sword of their enemies. So, I will give over all Judah to the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will carry them away as exiles to Babylon and will slay them with the sword.’

“A lion has gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations has set out; he has gone out from his place to make your land a waste. Your cities will be ruins without inhabitant. For this, put on sackcloth, lament, and wail; for the fierce anger of the LORD has not turned back from us.” (Jeremiah 4:7-8) Notice to whom the fierce anger belongs. It is the Lord’s fierce anger which has been aroused! Yet, the Scripture begins with the lion being aroused to go forth from his thicket set on destroying his next prey. The Chaldeans were a fierce people who had crushed so many other kingdoms and powers. They were coming now for Judah. Babylon is often represented in Scripture as a lion. Daniel 7:4—The first was like a lion and had the wings of an eagle. I kept looking until its wings were plucked, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man; a human mind also was given to it. This was Babylon and King Nebuchadnezzar. It can also be noted that Assyria was also depicted at its height as a lion.

The irony here is magnificent! We often use the title for Jesus of ‘The Lion of the Tribe of Judah’. Lions symbolize power, fierceness, and majesty. Just like lions are known as the king of all beasts, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah is the king of everything. God has His Lion, but He is in control of the enemy lions as much as He shut the mouths of the beasts in Daniel’s den of lions. The Christian is to watch out for the enemy of his or her soul who prowls around seeking to devour his prey. 1 Peter 5:8—Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Those whose wholehearted focus and devotion is to Christ will be able to stand against this enemy as Daniel did because of the Lion who is for them. It is better to be under the help and protection of this Lion rather than refusing Him and facing His fierceness. The Lion of the Tribe of Judah has triumphed over all because this Lion became the Lamb. He alone, is worthy to open the scroll and its seven seals in Revelation 5:4-10. (See also John 1:29.)

In His great mercy, God was giving Judah final moments in which to repent. Even though the enemy was coming swiftly, as they were running for cover they could still repent in sackcloth, lamentation, and wailing. Sadly, they did not repent. Why? Because they trusted the false prophets who were giving them a message of deceit wherein they were crying, ‘Peace and safety’. These deceivers were telling the people they were safe because they had the temple and the ark of the covenant. Have you ever seen someone who lives wickedly trying to hide behind the life of one who is righteous? It happens all the time. “We were baptized as babies into the church. Our parents raised us in a godly home. Christianity is the foundation of my family.” John 1:11-13—He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. Every individual must be born again of the Spirit for himself. Just like what we see in our own country in this moment, the masses will not put on sackcloth (worn in mourning and humiliation), lament (a sign of grief, especially for the dead), and wail (to howl with a wailing tone or yell with a boisterous one) because they have no fear of God. If Judah had feared the right Lion, they never would have found themselves ripe for judgment.

Have you ever heard a parent when disciplining a child say, “You are bringing this punishment upon yourself?” It was hard, when we were younger, to look at our own actions as that which brought about our own consequences. We could only look at our parents as bad parents saying, “You are so mean.” Judah, like all mature believers who grow up, would one day see that it was their own conduct and actions that brought judgment upon them. 1 Corinthians 11:31-32—But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world. When a nation, a church, or an individual rejects God, God rejects them. We are not a Christian nation as many would like to believe we are. With all our privilege, we do not submit to the Word of God as our final authority, and we are not following the living and true God. Most of ‘Christianity’ makes a pretense of following Christ, but the ‘Christ’ they follow is an idol sure as anything Judah was following. We pretend to be God-fearing (hiding behind phrases like, “I’m a devout Catholic, etc.,” just like a recent video I viewed by a prominent politician from California) but do not think the Bible is relevant to our lives! We can hide behind our ‘faith’ but live hypocritical lives and still expect that the world will admire us. For the most part, they might; but not for the right reasons. Like Israel and Judah, those who do not know a right fear of the Lord will one day know fear in judgment in the fierce anger of the Lord’s wrath. Those who turn away from the Lord will one day find out that though they professed Him and did things in His name, God has turned away from them. 

Can you hear the sirens or is that the roar of the Lion?