Judgment is Sure

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective

Watch the video presentation for this article here

In Jeremiah 14 and 15, we learn that God has resolutely decided to send judgment on Judah. The first thirteen chapters of Jeremiah tell us why, which we’ve gone over. Essentially, not only did the Judahites constantly walk away from any relationship with God and worshipped false gods, but they then had the temerity to deny they did anything wrong. In spite of the prophets sent their way to warn and woo them back to God, they rejected these warnings and refused to come back to God.

It was at that point in Jeremiah 14 that God decided to act. Who can blame Him? What good parent would not come to the same point with their child who continually ignored their desires and instead, did things their way all the time?

Up to now, Jeremiah was prophesying during the reign of Josiah, but now he begins prophesying during the reign of Jehoiakim. Jeremiah 14 details the conditions the people of Judah lived under because of the terrible drought due to God’s judgment and of course, this drought was sent by God because of the people’s refusal to see things God’s way, to return to Him and stop worshipping idols.

Results of the God-ordained Drought
During these drought conditions sent by God, which created famine, servants were sent to find water, but came back empty handed (vv2-3). Farmers lamented their lost crops due to lack of rain (v4). Even the animal kingdom suffered with mother deer abandoning their fawns to find grass so they could survive (v5). Donkeys – known for their hardiness – could only sniff the wind – they panted and their eyes grew dim as they began to die (v6). This is one of 13 famines seen in Scripture due to lack of water.

Think about this. No one escaped the lack of water. It affected every area of society and even into the animal kingdom where female deer actually abandoned their fawns to survive.

Jeremiah turns to God in prayer for Judah and admits their sin (vv7-9), on behalf of that nation. He asks why God would continue to ignore Judah’s plight and begs God to not leave them (vv8-9). The LORD reminds the people through Jeremiah that they loved to wander away from Him (v10). The LORD tells Jeremiah to not pray for the people of Judah (vv11-12). This is “tough love” because God had chosen to destroy them as a nation because of their constant tendency to wander away from Him.

In Jeremiah 14:13-16, he blames the false prophets who told the people lies. Ultimately, the people were responsible to see the truth and reject lies told by the false prophets, but they preferred the lies so that is what they embraced. The people were not innocent because they had a choice in the matter.

God responds that He never sent those false prophets, but He will pour out wickedness on them for their lies. In fact, both the prophets and the people of Judah would suffer because they embraced lies instead of reaching out to God in belief. The people as well as the prophets would die (vv17-18).

I wonder how often Christians are guilty of believing lies of people who, today, call themselves apostles and prophets? They often have something “new” to say about what God is allegedly doing and people’s ears perk up and they cling to what is being stated. They do not take the time to compare these new “words” against Scripture to determine whether the “words” are truth or falsehood. We as believers need to guard ourselves against believing something anyone says in the Name of the Lord, whether it’s about the Rapture or some other end times event. Jesus warned in Matthew 24-25 that there would be major problems during the end times including false prophets and false messiahs. If we are not well versed in God’s Word, we might easily succumb to the message given, even though it may well be false.

In Jeremiah 14:19-22, Jeremiah pleads on behalf of the Judahites for mercy from God. Jeremiah asks why God had given Judah a fatal blow? The prophet begs God to relent for the sake of His Name and Jeremiah acknowledges that only God can bring or withhold rain – no idol can do that. Jeremiah 14 ends with the prophet promising to wait for God.

At the start of Jeremiah 15, the LORD tells Jeremiah that even if Moses and Samuel stood before Him and prayed for Judah He would not change His mind about this judgment. Imagine that! There are numerous examples of God changing His mind after Moses or Samuel prayed. Yet, in this particular instance, God had come to the point of being fully unwilling to relent of the coming disaster He was sending onto Judah.

Sadly, God wanted the people cast out from Him to die, by the sword, by famine or by captivity (though some would survive captivity). For God, King Manasseh had been the final straw (vv3-4) because of what he did while king. He was the most syncretistic of all the Davidic kings…who was the son of one of Judah’s most godly kings, Hezekiah. (Dr. Thomas Constable)

The wickedness that Manasseh was responsible for so saturated life in Judah, even after he died, that it was impossible to remove (2 Kings 24:3 – Constable).

In Jeremiah 15:5-9 we read that God had grown tired of “relenting” from His judgment. The people hadn’t cared and continued to push God to the limit. The Judahites had not only forsaken God, but actually went backwards in their relationship with God and they never returned from their waywardness. They simply went deeper into apostasy. God was done with that particular generation of Israelites. Only a small remnant would survive to carry on as Israel.

Jeremiah becomes thoroughly frustrated and dejected. Because of God’s unwillingness to pardon Judah, Jeremiah literally wishes he had not been born (v10). He was frustrated with his ministry because it bore no fruit. The LORD responds by promising to strengthen Jeremiah and that it would be well with the remnant (v11). The enemy from the north (Babylon) would destroy Judah and take Judah’s wealth. What Jeremiah had been told to preach to the people of Judah would finally occur.

At this point, Jeremiah has a crisis of faith which leads him to pray as we see in vv15-18. Jeremiah asks God to remember him and to take vengeance on those who persecuted him. He had “eaten up” God’s Word, unlike those who rejected it out of hand.

As Christians, are we daily “eating” God’s Word? Are we taking it to heart? Are we memorizing it for recall? If not, why not?

Jeremiah asks why his pain for Judah continues? God promises to heal it (vv19-21) and He promises to save Jeremiah and make him unformidable against his enemies. God would deliver Jeremiah from the wicked.

Application – What Can We Gain from Jeremiah 14-15?
We have the benefit of the entirety of God’s Word, which Jeremiah did not. We also have the benefit of the indwelling Holy Spirit, which Jeremiah did not. What Jeremiah missed was that God was sanctifying him, just as He sanctifies every authentic believer. Jeremiah was likely unaware of this because again, he did not have the whole of God’s Word as we do today. All Jeremiah saw was his obedience to God, which changed nothing in Judah.

Our Sanctification includes:

• Justification – a one-time event in our past when we became saved
• Sanctification – our lives as believers in which God uses pressures and trials in life to create the image of His Son within us until we die
• Glorification – a one-time event of our future when we die and go to be with Him in heaven

Jeremiah was being sanctified by situations, as we are today, but he did not realize it. Once we become Christians, this one-time event in our past makes us justified before God and happens the moment we are saved. But then the work of growing in Christ starts, which is why Paul tells us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12). While we are not working for our salvation, we are certainly working by cooperating with the Holy Spirit to become more like Christ.

This involves actual work and effort on our part to submit ourselves to Him so that He might work in and through us. It means saying no to the things that God does not want for us and yes to those things He does. This causes friction within us because our “old man” or sin nature within us fights us tooth and nail. Yet, God uses the pressures, trials and issues in life to recreate Christ’s character within us. It only happens when we go along with what the Spirit is doing within us instead of fighting against Him.

The Judahites fought against God tooth and nail. In spite of this, God was determined to do all He could to cause them to return to Him. They refused, which ultimately brought them to the point of God rejecting that particular generation.

Will God reject true believers who continue to reject Him? No, because we know that salvation is permanent and eternal. He will, however, exercise His option to remove that believer from this life early if need be. He will also exercise His option to turn them over to themselves.

Sanctification is a continuous work that occurs in this life to conform us to the image of Jesus’ character. Once we leave this life, our glorification occurs where our sin nature is fully removed and things are finalized within us so that we can never sin again…ever.

Jeremiah was unaware of this and probably could not understand why he saw no success even though he did exactly what God wanted him to do. It was because he was unaware of what we know to be our sanctification.

Warning Signs
The warning signs for the people of Judah are signs for us as well. They continually failed to obey God. Instead they embraced the lies of the false prophets. The people of Judah fell away because they embraced lies that pulled them away from God and they had no interest in repentance and returning to God since they convinced themselves they were doing nothing wrong. They didn’t care how often God gave them chances.

Falling away from God can start out with small things that lead to bigger things. These failures can ultimately lead to hard hearts, which can happen to Christians as well. As God gave the Judahites over to themselves and brought judgment via famine and Babylon’s armies, God will ultimately give us over to our heart’s desires (Romans 1), if we are careless about being obedient to His will.

May we always endeavor to serve, love and obey Him!

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all. (Ecclesiastes 12:13)

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective

Source: https://studygrowknowblog.com/2025/10/27/judgment-is-sure/