Jeremiah 6:9-15 - Closed Ears
- Chad Werkhoven
- 1 hour ago
- 4 min read
The Word of the LORD never has been nor ever will be popular.
Jeremiah 6:9–15 (NIV)
CONTEXT: Jeremiah is declaring the Word of the LORD, calling out the complacent sinfulness of His people that will result in their exile to Babylon.
9 This is what the LORD Almighty says:
“Let them glean the remnant of Israel
as thoroughly as a vine;
pass your hand over the branches again,
like one gathering grapes.”
10 To whom can I speak and give warning?
Who will listen to me?
Their ears are closed
so they cannot hear.
The word of the LORD is offensive to them;
they find no pleasure in it.
11 But I am full of the wrath of the LORD,
and I cannot hold it in.
“Pour it out on the children in the street
and on the young men gathered together;
both husband and wife will be caught in it,
and the old, those weighed down with years.
12 Their houses will be turned over to others,
together with their fields and their wives,
when I stretch out my hand
against those who live in the land,”
declares the LORD.
13 “From the least to the greatest,
all are greedy for gain;
prophets and priests alike,
all practice deceit.
14 They dress the wound of my people
as though it were not serious.
‘Peace, peace,’ they say,
when there is no peace.
15 Are they ashamed of their detestable conduct?
No, they have no shame at all;
they do not even know how to blush.
So they will fall among the fallen;
they will be brought down when I punish them,”
says the LORD.
Canons of Dordt
Point 4 - Irresistible Grace
Article 15: Responses to God's grace
God does not owe grace to anyone.
For what could God owe to those who have nothing to give that can be paid back?
Indeed, what could God owe to those who have nothing of their own to give but sin and falsehood?
Therefore
those who receive this grace owe and give eternal thanks to God alone;
those who do not receive it either
do not care at all about these spiritual things and are satisfied with themselves in their condition,
or else in self-assurance foolishly boast about having something which they lack.
Furthermore, following the example of the apostles,
we are to think and to speak in the most favorable way
about those who outwardly profess their faith and better their lives,
for the inner chambers of the heart are unknown to us.
But for others who have not yet been called, we are to pray to the God who calls things that do not exist as though they did.
In no way, however, are we to pride ourselves as better than they, as though we had distinguished ourselves from them.
Summary
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Obviously Jeremiah lived in a context far different from our own in nearly every way, yet the sins the LORD sent him to call out remain as present today as they did in ancient Israel, in the days right before they'd be exiled from the Promised Land.
Jeremiah had one of the toughest callings of any of the prophets. He was only a boy when the LORD called him into service to bring a word of warning to Israel, but nobody wanted to hear the message Jeremiah proclaimed. To whom can I speak and give warning, Jeremiah rhetorically asks, who will listen to me? Their ears are closed so they cannot hear.
It's important for us to stop and note here in our year long study of God's sovereignty in our salvation as to why their ears were closed. We've come to understand that people come to believe the gospel only when the Lord opens their hearts, as He did with Lydia. But while the Bible does occasionally speak of God hardening hearts of men like Pharoah, in general people's ears are not supernaturally closed.
Rather, people voluntarily close their ears so they cannot hear the gospel simply because the word of the LORD is offensive to them. It's offensive because it presents truth, and truth is repulsive to those who are enslaved to sin.
Dig Deeper
We read in today's selection from the Canons that those who do not receive God's grace... do not care at all about these spiritual things and are satisfied with themselves in their condition. This is so frustrating, isn't it. By God's grace you've come to see and love the beauty of His Word and the eternal peace it promises, yet you have friends and loved ones who aren't the least bit interested in it, even though they can't seem to find the peace the crave even in the abundance of worldly blessings they've accumulated.
Such was the case for the Israelites who plugged their ears as Jerimiah spoke the word of the LORD to them. As the Canons put it, they did not care and were satisfied with themselves in their condition. Jeremiah here gives us a big reason as to why, and he points the blame directly at the very men who should have been supporting Jeremiah's message: the prophets and priests.
God's people had been wounded - that's what sin does - but instead of calling them to the true tonic of repentance they desperately needed, the religious establishment simply dressed the wound as though it were not serious. Instead of telling people the truth about their mortal wound, they proclaimed peace, peace... when there is no peace.
The word of the LORD never has been nor ever will be popular in this sinful world. Unfortunately, so many people don't think they need it. Your temptation will be to modify God's Word to make it more attractive, but don't fall into this trap like those ancient prophets and priests did. Instead thank God for removing your fingers from your own ears and pray that He will do so for others.
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who sends forth His Word for our salvation;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you would faithfully adhere to and proclaim the word of the LORD;
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
Read the New Testament in a year! Today: 2 Corinthians 13
