God Will Relent

Jeremiah 26:8-15

An old man and his wife lived deep in the hills and seldom saw any people. One day a peddler came by to sell his goods and asked the man if he or his wife wanted to buy anything. “Well,” said the man, “my wife ain’t home. She’s gone down to the crick to wash clothes, but lemme see what you got.” The peddler showed him pots and pans, tools and gadgets, but the old man wasn’t interested. Then the man spotted a mirror and said, “What’s that?” Before the peddler could tell him it was a mirror, the old man picked it up and said, “I don’t believe it. Where did you get a picture of my Pappy?” The old man was so happy he traded his wife’s best pitcher for it and the peddler left before the wife could come back and spoil his sale. However, the old man was worried that his wife would be mad at him for trading her best pitcher, so he hid it in the barn behind some boxes of junk. He would go out to the barn 2 or 3 times a day to look at the ‘picture’ and eventually his wife got suspicious. One day she got so fed up that after he retired for the night, she went out to the barn. She saw the mirror behind the boxes, picked it up and said, “Ah ha! So this is the hussy he’s been foolin' around with!”

We see that same thing happening in our Old Testament lesson with the prophet Jeremiah. God had sent Jeremiah to the Temple in Jerusalem to warn the people to turn from their evil ways. And he was relentless in his preaching. He commanded them to follow God’s Law and listen to His Word, otherwise God would send the Babylonians to destroy the Holy City and its Temple. According to our text, when the people heard Jeremiah’s prophecy, they seized him and said: “THIS MAN MUST DIE!” And the reason they wanted to sentence him to death was because he had prophesied against the city. In other words, they did not accuse him of false doctrine, but of treason.

Little did they realize that they were the ones who were guilty of treason - treason against God and His will. For isn’t that what sin is all about? Whenever we sin it’s like we’re trying to overthrow the government of God and His Word. When we tell a lie or gossip about someone, we’re betraying the God, who made us in His image. When we give into our lustful desires or the passions of the flesh, we’re betraying the God, who shed His blood to redeem us. When we lose our temper or insult a brother, we’re betraying the God, who seeks to sanctify us. Yes, our sinful human nature by its very disposition is disloyal to our God. And such disloyal treason brings God’s righteous anger and condemnation upon itself.

That was the heart and soul of Jeremiah’s message to the people of Judah. No wonder they didn’t want to hear it. The relentless hammer of God’s Law is not pleasing to the Old Adam. And that’s why they wanted to kill the prophet. In the words of Professor David M. Gosdeck: “The unbelieving world conspires to silence the call to repentance any way it can, for it will not face up to its sin.”

My friends, do you and I do the same thing? Do we try to squelch the pleading voice of the Holy Spirit? Do we ignore the warnings of God’s precious Word? Do we, like the people in our text, say to Him: “YOU MUST DIE!”? If we do, then we only bring death and disaster upon ourselves. We run the risk of becoming as desolate as Jerusalem. Indeed, the word ‘desolate’ literally means: ‘dry and devoid of vegetation.’ And you see, that’s what happens to our soul, when we keep on living in sin unconfessed. Our soul begins to shrivel up and die.

However, our gracious God does not want that to happen to us, which is why He gives us a way out. As Jeremiah encouraged the people of Judah: “NOW REFORM YOUR WAYS AND YOUR ACTIONS . . . . THEN THE LORD WILL RELENT AND NOT BRING THE DISASTER HE HAS PROUNOUNCED AGAINST YOU.” You see, God does not desire to punish us. Instead, He longs to relent and pardon us. And that’s what this season of Lent is all about. That’s what the Passion and suffering of Jesus Christ are all about - God giving us a way out of sin and condemnation, a way out of death and hell. In Hebrew the word ‘relent’ is a very emotional word. It means: ‘to breathe deeply,’ like a sigh of sorrow. Perhaps that’s why it can also mean: ‘to comfort or console those who mourn.’

Well my friends that’s what God does for you and me - He consoles us with His forgiveness and salvation. He turns away from His fierce anger and embraces us with a sigh of love. But in order to do that, He had to unleash the full fury of His righteous anger upon His beloved Son, Jesus Christ. Like the prophet Jeremiah in our text, Jesus was also seized by an angry mob and sentenced to death. For, when the people told Jeremiah: “YOU MUST DIE!” it was not unlike the crowd that shouted: “CRUCIFY HIM! CRUCIFY HIM!” In fact, the Hebrew text actually says: “YOU WILL SURELY DIE!” - an echo of Genesis 2:17, when God pronounced the curse for sin. And that’s exactly what Jesus took upon Himself at the cross to set us free!

Not only that, but when Jeremiah said: “IF YOU PUT ME TO DEATH, YOU WILL BRING THE GUILT OF INNOCENT BLOOD UPON YOURSELVES,” it reminds us of what happened to Jesus on Calvary. For His is the only truly innocent blood. And ironically, by that blood He took our guilt upon Himself and made us clean. As a matter of fact, the word ‘innocent’ means: ‘to be pure and spotless.’ It’s used to refer to sparkling, white, clean teeth. And that’s what Jesus offers us by repentance and faith in His name. He makes us pure and spotless, sparkling white and innocent in His eyes!

Sitting atop the highest hill in Toledo, Spain is the Alcazar, a sixteenth-century fortress. In the civil war of the 1930’s, the Alcazar became a battleground. During one dramatic episode of the war, the fortress leader received a phone call. It was from his son, who had been captured. The ultimatum - if the father didn’t surrender the Alcazar to them, they would kill his son. The father weighed his options. After a long pause and with a heavy heart, he said to his son, “Then die like a man!”

Dear friends, as cold and cruel as that may seem, the father did what he had to do to save his people. In an even deeper way, that’s what God the Father did to save you and me and all mankind. He relented of the disaster death and hell for us, but in so doing He sent Jesus to His death. For if there’s one thing that God really is relentless about it’s His love for you and me. He was willing to give up His only Son, so that we can be saved.

That’s why it’s so important that we daily heed His Word, just like Jeremiah encouraged the people in our text to do. He told them: “IN TRUTH THE LORD HAS SENT ME TO YOU TO SPEAK ALL THESE WORDS IN YOUR HEARING.” Or as the Hebrew text literally puts it: ‘to speak all these word into your ears.’ That’s what God longs to do each and every day - to speak His Word into our ears, to whisper His words of lovingkindness. May God the Holy Spirit grant that we would drink those words in, soak them up and take them to heart; that we would relent and repent of our sin, so that we might receive His gracious pardon, and then be empowered to serve Him more faithfully, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.