“Behold, you are trusting in deceptive words to no avail,” (7:8).

Oh, the Wonder of God as His resolve to get His people’s attention continues. And this time He sends Jeremiah to the temple gates to deliver His message. And all who were making their way towards the temple to perform their religious worship would hear the Wonderful Word of the Lord.

The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, ² “Stand in the gate of the Lord’s house and proclaim there this word and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, all you of Judah, who enter by these gates to worship the Lord!’” (7:1).

And once again we are brought face to face with His offer of Grace and Mercy to an obstinate people. And once again, it’s really too much to comprehend. The God of the universe, again, offers His people the chance to dwell with Him in safety. It really is too Wonderful!

Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place, (7:3).

And one thing this book is proving to be, amidst Jeremiah’s incessant proclamations of the coming gloom and doom, is a portrait of God’s unmerited favor through His repeated invitations to dwell in His Grace and Presence. And I find it inconceivable to the human mind. But if we will respond in faith, we are afforded the Wonderful privilege of making our dwelling with Him. Like I said, inconceivable.

If only they would amend their ways and deeds. But who can possibly clean themselves up enough to even come into His Presence, let alone to dwell there?

Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord?
And who may stand in His holy place?
⁴ He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
Who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood
And has not sworn deceitfully, (Psalm 24:3-4).

For all of us have become like one who is unclean,
And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment;
And all of us wither like a leaf,
And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away, (Isaiah 64:6).

But God was not calling them to amend their ways through behavioral modification. This was an invitation to faith, an invitation to believe the promises of His Wonderful Word.

The subject of faith is addressed throughout this chapter. And although the word, faith, is never used, a form of the word “trust” is repeated three times.

The following quote about faith is one of my favorites, and it is a very accurate summation of todays’ chapter. From The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism by Timothy Keller:

“It is not the strength of your faith but the object of your faith that actually saves you. Strong faith in a weak branch is fatally inferior to weak faith in a strong branch.”

For while there was a lot of strong faith going on in Jerusalem, their strong faith was in a fatally weak branch.

And He tells them, again, but they refuse to listen, again. Their ears had become stopped up with the promises of rewards in keeping up appearances. They were so active in their fatal faith, never missing their time in temple worship, offering sacrifices, so concerned with all matters of external tradition rather than internal transformation as they ascribed value to dependence upon the place and performance of worship rather than to faith in His Wonderful Word.

Consider His Wonderful Word

His Wonderful Word, revealed and understood by faith, is unveiled and fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the Word Who became flesh, full of Grace and Truth. And when we place our faith in His Wonderful Word He shows us His Glory.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being… ¹⁴ And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth, (John 1:1-3, 14).

• By faith, His Wonderful Word Shows us His Glory, unveiling His Truth.
  • “Do not trust in deceptive words, saying, ‘This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord,’” (7:4).
    • Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me,” (John 14:6).

• By faith, His Wonderful Word Shows us His Glory, unveiling His Presence.
  • “For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly practice justice between a man and his neighbor, ⁶ if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, nor walk after other gods to your own ruin, ⁷ then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever,” (7:5-7).
    • “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age,” (Matthew 28:19-20).

• By faith, His Wonderful Word Shows us His Glory, unveiling His Availing Power.
  • “Behold, you are trusting in deceptive words to no avail,” (7:8).
    • For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God, (1 Corinthians 1:18).

• By faith, His Wonderful Word Shows us His Glory, unveiling His Name.
  • “But go now to My place which was in Shiloh, where I made My name dwell at the first, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel,” (7:12).
    • so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹ and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father, (Philippians 2:10-11).

• By faith, His Wonderful Word Shows us His Glory, unveiled as we walk in  Obedience and Love.
  • “For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. ²³ But this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you will be My people; and you will walk in all the way which I command you, that it may be well with you,’” (7:22-23).
    • “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments… ²³ Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him,” (John 14:15, 23).

How do we respond to His Wonderful Word?

The sad truth is God’s people were more enthralled by the ways of the world than by His Wonderful Word. And they would pay dearly for their misplaced affection and faith. But in His Grace, He reiterates His Warnings to seek Truth in His Wonderful Word that we would be able to detect the lies.

This chapter should solidify this fact for us: We need to know and trust the Truth of His Wonderful Word; it is our protection from the deceiver.

“Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word. ⁴⁴ You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies,” (John 8:43-44).

By faith, we know the day is coming when the deceiver of the world and all his angels will be defeated.

And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him, (Revelation 12:9).

Until that day, let us depend on the Lord in faith, to grow us in His Wonderful Word that we would be guarded from deception as we devote ourselves to Christ in simplicity and purity.

 But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ, (2 Corinthians 11:3).

Oh that we would truly grow in our faith to understand the Wonder of His Word; for in His Word He unveils all we need to know and live in His Truth, His Presence, His Availing Power, His Name, and Obedience and Love. And as we walk in His ways He will enlarge our faith to run on the solid foundation of His Wonderful Word.

I shall run the way of Your commandments,
For You will enlarge my heart, (Psalm 119:32).

But it is so critical that we don’t just take the word of someone else. Let us grow to become like the Bereans, that we would study and examine God’s Wonderful Word daily that we would know and hold fast to His Good Truth in faith.

Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so, (Acts 17:11).

But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good, (1 Thessalonians 5:21).

Oh, that we would heed His call to believe His Wonderful Word, trusting that as we do, He will show us His Glory.

Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” (John 11:40).  

Let’s Grow Together!