The first half of Jeremiah 7 is often called the temple sermon because the Lord called his prophet to preach his word in the gate of his house (v1). At v16, there appears to be a shift in the chapter away from a direct sermon to more of a thematic continuation. Verses 16 through 20 are addressed to Jeremiah, but vv21-26 switch between a second- and third-person address to the people. Finally, vv27-29 appear to be a concluding indictment against the people of God for their unwillingness to hear God’s word and to receive correction. The key phrase in this portion of Jeremiah 7 unsurprisingly comes in the concluding indictment: truth has perished.
Now, this word “truth” means more than “facts.” “Truth” here cannot be restricted to the intellectual domain, for the indictment points to the wayward hearts of the people as much as their minds. While “truth” is a fine translation, perhaps we get a better grasp on the point if we translate the phrase, “integrity has perished.” This alternative helps us to see that the issue in this chapter is less about the facts of their lives and more about the loves of their hearts. Significantly, an emphasis on integrity helps to unify the second half of this chapter with the first. After all, the people were not wrong when they stated the fact that “this is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord” (v4). Rather, what they understood that fact to mean, and how they related to that fact, were the issue. Thus, the charge against the people of Jerusalem is primarily a charge of hypocrisy, for form and substance had fractured. Or, to say it another way, “integrity has perished.”
In the days of Jesus, this same charge was still valid for so many. When the impact of our Lord’s public ministry began to hit the breaking point with the religious authorities in Jerusalem, another example of form and substance fracturing was presented in the complaint against Jesus: “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. 48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation” (John 11:47-48 ESV). “Our place” is a reference to the temple, and John intends for us to appreciate the irony that the chief priests and Pharisees were concerned about the physical structure that represented God’s special presence with people over against God’s actual special presence with his people in the Lord Jesus Christ. At the heart of the matter was a fracturing of form and substance so that the temple gained significance apart from what it was meant to signify. This is substantially similar to the concern that God raises with his people through Jeremiah a few hundred years earlier.
As a consequence of this perishing of integrity, folly was able to reign in place of faith. In the time of Jeremiah, this is seen in the fact that the people would not listen to Jeremiah’s prophetic warning, which led to the concluding indictment: “This is the nation that did not obey the voice of the LORD their God, and did not accept discipline; truth has perished; it is cut off from their lips” (Jer 7:28 ESV). So, also, the scribes and Pharisees would not listen to the Lord Jesus, but in their folly crucified the Lord of glory instead.
It is worth reflecting on these themes today, because we have a clear diagnostic to assess whether someone or some institution is operating by faith or folly. We know that truth/integrity has perished when the voice of the Lord is not obeyed and discipline is not accepted. When these two things define a person or institution, folly is the default operating position, for the Proverbs say, “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice” (Prov 12:15 ESV), and “Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him” (Prov 26:12 ESV). But one lives by faith when one has a tender heart and open ears, and that is what we should hope for and look for in all of our leaders.
Comments