Is our righteousness like a rotting cloth and will our nation also be shattered like broken wine jars for our sins? Let’s look at Jeremiah 13.
What did the Lord ask Jeremiah to do with a linen loincloth?
This is what the Lord said to me: “Go and buy a linen loincloth and put it on, but do not wash it.” So I bought the loincloth as the Lord directed me, and I put it on. Then the Lord gave me another message: “Take the linen loincloth you are wearing, and go to the Euphrates River. Hide it there in a hole in the rocks.” So I went and hid it by the Euphrates as the Lord had instructed me.
A long time afterward the Lord said to me, “Go back to the Euphrates and get the loincloth I told you to hide there.” So I went to the Euphrates and dug it out of the hole where I had hidden it. But now it was rotting and falling apart. The loincloth was good for nothing. (Jer 13:1-7 NLT)
What did the rotting, good for nothing loincloth symbolize?
Then Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, “Yahweh says, ‘In this way I will ruin the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem. This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who walk in the stubbornness of their heart, and have gone after other gods to serve them and to worship them, will even be as this belt, which is profitable for nothing. For as the belt clings to the waist of a man, so I have caused the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to cling to me,’ says Yahweh; ‘that they may be to me for a people, for a name, for praise, and for glory; but they would not hear.’ (Jer 13:8-11 WEB)
As with the rotting loincloth, what did the shattering of wine jugs symbolize?
So deliver this word to them: The Lord the God of Israel proclaims: Every wine jug should be filled with wine. And they will answer you, “Don’t we already know that? Obviously every wine jug should be filled with wine!” Then you should say to them: The Lord proclaims: I’m going to fill everyone who lives in this country with wine that makes them drunk, including the kings on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets, and all those living in Jerusalem. And I will shatter every one of them, even parents and children, declares the Lord. I won’t take pity; I won’t have compassion; I will show no mercy when I destroy them. (Jer 13:12-14 CEB)
Are we too proud to listen to what the Lord has said, to confess our sins?
People of Judah, don't be too proud to listen to what the Lord has said. You hope for light, but God is sending darkness. Evening shadows already deepen in the hills. So return to God and confess your sins to him before you trip and fall. If you are too proud to listen, I will weep alone. Tears will stream from my eyes when the Lord's people are taken away as prisoners. (Jer 13:15-17 CEV)
Should those of high society in any age also learn humility, to take a lowly seat? Would Judah follow Israel into national captivity?
Say to the king and the queen mother: “Take a lowly seat, for your beautiful crown has come down from your head.” The cities of the Negeb are shut up, with none to open them; all Judah is taken into exile, wholly taken into exile. Lift up your eyes and see those who come from the north. Where is the flock that was given you, your beautiful flock? (Jer 13:18-20 ESV)
Can Judah repent after they have been punished for a lifetime training in evil?
What will you say when He appoints close friends as leaders over you, ones you yourself trained? Won’t labor pains seize you, as they do a woman in labor? And when you ask yourself, “Why have these things happened to me?” It is because of your great guilt that your skirts have been stripped off, your body exposed. Can the Cushite change his skin, or a leopard his spots? If so, you might be able to do what is good, you who are instructed in evil. (Jer 13:21-23 HCSB)
What would God do to a nation that commits sexual sins, engages in detestable behavior and worships false gods?
I’ll scatter them like chaff blown away by a desert wind. “This is your fate, the portion I’ve measured out for you,” declares the Lord, “because you have forgotten me and have trusted in false gods. I’ll also pull your skirt up over your face, so your shame will be seen, I’ve seen your detestable behavior: your adulteries, your passionate neighing, your lewd immorality on the hills in the field. How terrible it will be for you, Jerusalem! You are unclean. How much longer will this go on?” (Jer 13:24-27 ISV)
Are we really any better than ancient Israel and Judah? Do we too need to repent?
What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: Their feet are swift to shed blood: Destruction and misery are in their ways: And the way of peace have they not known: There is no fear of God before their eyes.
Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; (Rom 3:9-23 KJV)
Is our righteousness like a rotting cloth and will our nation also be shattered like broken wine jars for our sins? You decide!
