How many lies that are not found in the Bible do we believe? Let’s look at Jeremiah 7.
Was the worship of the Lord being misused to defend absolute lies?
The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, “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 in at these gates to worship the Lord!’ ” Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. Do not trust in these lying words, saying, ‘The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these.’ (Jer 7:1-4 NKJV)
What did God really want to see change in people’s thoughts and deeds?
But I will be merciful only if you stop your evil thoughts and deeds and start treating each other with justice; only if you stop exploiting foreigners, orphans, and widows; only if you stop your murdering; and only if you stop harming yourselves by worshiping idols. Then I will let you stay in this land that I gave to your ancestors to keep forever. (Jer 7:5-7 NLT)
Is any part of our personal beliefs based upon lies, things that neither Jesus nor the apostles taught?
Behold, you trust in lying words that can’t profit. Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods that you have not known, then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, ‘We are delivered,’ that you may do all these abominations? Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it,” says Yahweh. (Jer 7:8-11 WEB)
Did God tolerate sin and corruption among His people in the past?
Just go to my sanctuary in Shiloh, where I let my name dwell at first, and see what I did to it because of the evil of my people Israel. And now, because you have done all these things, declares the Lord, because you haven’t listened when I spoke to you again and again or responded when I called you, I will do to this temple that bears my name and on which you rely, the place that I gave to you and your ancestors, just as I did to Shiloh. I will cast you out of my sight, just as I cast out the rest of your family, all the people of Ephraim. (Jer 7:12-15 CEB)
Specifically, did God tolerate the worship of foreign gods or was He angry?
Jeremiah, don't pray for these people! I, the Lord, would refuse to listen. Do you see what the people of Judah are doing in their towns and in the streets of Jerusalem? Children gather firewood, their fathers build fires, and their mothers mix dough to bake bread for the goddess they call the Queen of Heaven. They even offer wine sacrifices to other gods, just to insult me. But they are not only insulting me; they are also harming themselves by doing these shameful things.
And now, I, the Lord All-Powerful, will flood Judah with my fiery anger until nothing is left—no people or animals, no trees or crops. (Jer 7:16-20 CEV)
Had each successive generation only gotten worse in the nation? What would God say about our current generations?
Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat the flesh. For in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to your fathers or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. But this command I gave them: ‘Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people. And walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.’ But they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and the stubbornness of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward. From the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have persistently sent all my servants the prophets to them, day after day. Yet they did not listen to me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did worse than their fathers. (Jer 7:21-26 ESV)
Will our current generation listen to a preacher of God’s word any better than that generation?
When you speak all these things to them, they will not listen to you. When you call to them, they will not answer you. You must therefore declare to them: This is the nation that would not listen to the voice of the Lord their God and would not accept discipline. Truth has perished—it has disappeared from their mouths. Cut off the hair of your sacred vow and throw it away. Raise up a dirge on the barren heights, for the Lord has rejected and abandoned the generation under His wrath. (Jer 7:27-29 HCSB)
What had Judah done in the house of God, the Temple in Jerusalem? What abominable things were they doing with their own children?
“For the people of Judah have done evil in my eyes,” declares the Lord. “They have put their detestable idols in the house that is called by my name in order to defile it. They have built high places at Topheth in the Valley of Ben-hinnom to burn their sons and daughters in the fire. I didn’t command this, and it never entered my mind! (Jer 7:30-31 ISV)
What punishment will God bring to Jerusalem because they sacrificed their children to pagan gods?
Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be called Tophet, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter: for they shall bury in Tophet, till there be no place. And the carcases of this people shall be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth; and none shall fray them away. Then will I 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. (Jer 7:32-34 KJV)
Did Jesus also speak against another later misuse of the Temple in Jerusalem?
And He began to teach and say to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a robbers’ den.” (Mark 11:17 LSB)
How many lies that are not found in the Bible do we believe? You decide!
