Study Questions:

1. What announcement did Jeremiah make in Jerusalem years before it happened? Jeremiah 6:22-23
2. What false security does he warn them about? Jeremiah 7:2-4

Commentary and Reflection:

Jeremiah served as a prophet in Judah and Jerusalem during the final years of the kingdom, preceding its conquest by Nebuchadnezzar. The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary highlights his mission: “Jeremiah, during the last 40 years of Judah’s existence as a kingdom, bore messages of reform and revival to five kings: Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah.” (SDA Bible Commentary, Introduction to Jeremiah, Historical Setting)

These were God’s final warnings and admonitions to His people—those He had delivered from Egypt and planted in the Promised Land with a unique and sacred purpose.

Jeremiah laments Jerusalem’s rampant sins: theft, greed, and the oppression of foreigners, widows, and the poor. Instead of being a light to the nations, Jerusalem adopted foreign customs and idolatrous worship. The temple, meant to be holy, had become a place desecrated by idols. Worship in high places had become commonplace, echoing the practices of neighboring nations. They even reached the horrifying act of sacrificing their children in fire (Jeremiah 7:31).

God expressed His rejection of their empty rituals and sacrifices: “Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet to Me.” (Jeremiah 6:20)

God’s desire was far more profound than rituals; He wanted His people to return to the essence of their identity: “Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.” (Jeremiah 7:23)

They came to the temple declaring freedom, but they abused that freedom to indulge in abominations: “And then come and stand before Me in this house which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered to do all these abominations’?” (Jeremiah 7:10)

Jeremiah warns of a widespread moral and spiritual decline. Wickedness had infiltrated every level of society, including prophets and priests who were supposed to guide the people. Instead of delivering God’s message, they chose to flatter and appease the people: “Because from the least of them even to the greatest of them, everyone is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even to the priest, everyone deals falsely.” (Jeremiah 6:13)

The people, spiritually wounded, sought soothing words rather than the truth: “They have also healed the hurt of My people slightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace!’ when there is no peace.” (Jeremiah 6:14) “Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No! They were not at all ashamed, nor did they know how to blush.” (Jeremiah 6:15)

The SDA Bible Commentary further explains: “Prophets who proclaim peace and security in spite of transgression, when God has declared that sin is about to collect its inevitable wages, are echoing the satanic lie first spoken by the serpent in the Garden of Eden, “Ye shall not surely die” (Gen. 3:4). Through Jeremiah and other messengers God had announced that the day of Judah’s grace was about to close, and that the reward of evildoing could not be longer delayed (cf. Eze. 12:21–28). But the false prophets denounced Jeremiah and his Heaven-sent message (see Jer. 28; 29) and sought to calm the people’s fears that there would be any interruption in their evil course of action. The false prophets said, as it were, “Tomorrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant” (Isa. 56:12).” (SDA Bible Commentary, Jeremiah 6:14)

The warning message was delivered well before its fulfillment but was rejected because it didn’t align with the people’s perceptions of their circumstances. The kings and people dismissed Jeremiah’s words with hostility and violence. Yet God was calling them back to Himself, urging them to repentance and restoration: “Be instructed, O Jerusalem, lest My soul depart from you; lest I make you desolate, a land not inhabited.” (Jeremiah 6:8)

God pleaded with them: “Thus says the Lord: ‘Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; then you will find rest for your souls.’” (Jeremiah 6:16). The “old paths” are not merely traditions or nostalgia for “the way it used to be.” “The old paths” represent the original covenant, the foundation of the relationship with God. It’s about returning to trusting Him, loving His Word, and living in obedience.

We are His people not by tradition or formality but through His calling, His Word, and our willingness to follow His direction toward the eternal promised land.

Just as God called Judah back to true repentance, He calls us today to return to the covenant relationship, to a genuine experience of faith and obedience.

The prophets have warned that, as in the days of Noah, God will act in our time: “Then I will cause to cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride. For the land shall be desolate.” (Jeremiah 7:34)

It is time to seek the Lord with all our hearts.

May God grant you a blessed day.