Return to Me

Isn't it fun that as a church that doesn't have a strict liturgy, we have a very strict order in which we do things.

!

Well, good morning. My name is Martin and we will this morning be looking at Jeremiah chapters 2 to 4.

Jeremiah 2 · chapter mention

I hope I haven't bitten off more than we can chew. We'll see. You can be the judge of that by the end of the talk this morning.

But you might like to start doing there, Jeremiah chapter 2 to 4.

Jeremiah 2 · chapter mention

I will say a few words by way of introduction first, but let me commit this time to the Lord in prayer.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the scriptures through which we get to know you as our God, our Father,

through which we get to know our Saviour Jesus, that we might be reconciled to you.

We pray that you would guide us in our meditations on your word this morning.

And we pray that as we hear, we would respond from the heart. In Jesus' name. Amen.

The Apostle John concludes his first epistle with the words,

Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

Now, it's a strange way to end the letter.

The first epistle of John, if you're familiar with it, you may know it's full of the themes of God's love,

of faith, of the assurance of salvation, of Jesus' command that we love one another,

the assurance that we're God's children, loved by the Father.

In fact, in the previous sentence, the penultimate verse in the first epistle of John,

it talks about knowing God, about our union with God the Father through being united with his Son, Jesus Christ.

It talks about eternal life, the eternal life that's found in Jesus.

And then, abruptly, we have this final sentence,

Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

It's, in fact, the only use of the word idols in the book of 1 John.

We're not studying 1 John this morning, but anyway, this is just the introduction.

It's the only use of the word idols in the book of 1 John.

It seems to come from nowhere and leave nowhere.

And yet, John chose to end his letter, this message about faith and love and life,

with this short, stark warning about idolatry.

Actually, it may hearken back to something John had said earlier in his letter.

In 1 John 2, verse 15 and 16, he says,

1 John 2:15

Do not love the world or the things in the world.

If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

For all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride of life,

is not from the Father, but is from the world.

If John has that in mind when he says, keep yourselves from idols,

then the idolatry John is thinking about is not just the worship of Jupiter or Mars or Athena or Artemis or Isis or any of the pantheon of ancient gods.

John recognized that idolatry could take a more insidious form,

that is, a love of the world and the things in the world.

And when he speaks that way, he's not talking about the legitimate enjoyment of God's good creation.

He's talking about any inordinate, covetous, misshapen love that displaces God.

And John says,

Even though you know the Father and the Son, even though you have eternal life,

even though you're beloved children of God,

even though you have victory over the world through believing in Jesus,

even though all those things are true,

yet heed this warning,

keep yourselves from idols.

In other words,

we who believe in Jesus are not immune to the seduction and deception of idolatry.

And I wonder, like, if the Apostle John were to come here to Australia in the 21st century

and cast his appraising eye over our society,

what would he see?

Now, if he would appraise our society with its boasts and its greed and its obsessions

and its addictions and its fixations,

I think he would no doubt perceive the same danger for us in the 21st century

as he did for his first readers in the 1st century.

And he would say to us,

Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

In 626 BC, in the 13th year of the reign of King Josiah,

God called Jeremiah as a prophet to the nations

and especially to his people Judah, the nation of Judah.

And as his first assignment,

God sent Jeremiah to Jerusalem,

to the city which was the home of the Lord's temple,

the home of the king's palace,

with a message for the people,

a message that could be summed up,

why have you forsaken me to follow worthless idols?

And we're going to listen to part of that message in a moment as Beck reads it for us.

As we listen to this part of the message,

we're going to read the,

Beck will read the first half of chapter 2.

I want you to bear in mind the Apostle John's exhortation,

Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

And listen to the way God speaks to Judah here,

the way he drives home to Judah,

that it is absolute folly,

utter folly,

to forsake the Lord

in order to follow idols.

So Beck,

I'm not sure where about,

there you are.

Beck is going to come out and read

Jeremiah chapter 2 verses 1 to 19.

Jeremiah 2:1–19

And think about how do we see it's utter folly

to forsake the Lord.

Thanks, Beck.

Okay, starting at verse 1 of chapter 2.

The word of the Lord came to me,

saying,

Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem,

thus says the Lord.

I remember the devotion of your youth,

your love as a bride,

how you followed me in the wilderness,

in a land not sown.

Israel was holy to the Lord,

the first fruits of his harvest.

All who ate of it incurred guilt,

disaster came upon them,

declares the Lord.

Hear the word of the Lord,

O house of Jacob,

and all the clans of the house of Israel.

Thus says the Lord.

What wrong did your fathers find in me,

that they went far from me,

and went after worthlessness,

and became worthless?

They did not say,

Where is the Lord who brought us up from the land of Egypt,

who led us in the wilderness,

in a land of deserts and pits,

in a land of drought and deep darkness,

in a land that none passes through,

where no man dwells?

And I brought you into a plentiful land,

to enjoy its fruits and its good things.

But when you came in,

you defiled my land,

and made my heritage an abomination.

The priests did not say,

Where is the Lord?

Those who handle the law did not know me.

The shepherds transgressed against me.

The prophets prophesied by Baal,

and went after things that do not profit.

Therefore, I still contend with you,

declares the Lord,

and with your children's children,

I will contend.

For cross to the coasts of Cyprus and see,

or send to Kedar and examine with care,

see if there has been such a thing.

Has a nation changed its gods,

even though they are no gods?

But my people have changed their glory,

for that which does not profit.

Be appalled, O heavens, at this.

Be shocked.

Be utterly desolate, declares the Lord.

For my people have committed two evils.

They have forsaken me,

the fountain of living mortars,

and hewed out cisterns for themselves,

broken cisterns that can hold no water.

Is Israel a slave?

Is he a home-born servant?

Why then has he become a prey?

The lions have roared against him.

They have roared loudly.

They have made his land a waste.

His cities are in ruin,

without inhabitant.

Moreover, the men of Memphis and Tapanis

have shaved the crown of your head.

Have you not brought this upon yourself

by forsaking the Lord your God

when he led you in the way?

And now, what do you gain by going to Egypt

to drink the waters of the Nile?

Or what do you gain by going to Assyria

to drink the waters of the Euphrates?

Your evil will chastise you,

and your apostasy will reprove you.

Know and see that it is evil and bitter

for you to forsake the Lord your God.

The fear of me is not in you,

declares the Lord God of hosts.

This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks, Peg.

Okay, well, let's consider these verses,

this section.

The first three verses then of chapter two,

we have like this brief introduction,

which is a nostalgic recollection

of Israel's past,

the honeymoon period of Israel's relationship with God.

God remembers and he reminds his people

there in verse two of the devotion of your youth

and your love as a bride.

They're following after him in the wilderness.

And how he, in verse three, cherished them.

They were precious to him.

They were wholly set apart for him

and protected by him.

Now, you could read this

and raise an eyebrow and say,

was Israel's relationship with God

ever really like this?

It is, you might think,

a rose-coloured glasses perspective

on even Israel's beginning.

And if you were to read through the book of Exodus

and the book of Numbers,

you know, those years Israel spent in the wilderness,

there are plenty of spectacular failures of Israel

in those years.

So what we have here in verses one to three

is this idealised presentation of the past.

What Israel were made to be

and what they were supposed to be?

Maybe, you see, precise historical accuracy,

I don't think, is the point here

in these first three verses.

Rather, it's not so much about how good Israel once were.

The point of this chapter is about how far they had fallen

from what they ought to have been,

what they could have been,

what they were made to be.

Verse five,

what wrong did your fathers find in me

that they went far from me

and went after worthlessness

and became worthless?

Now, in the montage of metaphors that follow,

God makes the case

that it is utter folly to turn away from him.

It's madness to turn away from God.

And the same reasons that God gave Judah

for why it's folly to turn away from him

are just as applicable for us today.

Why it'd be folly for us to turn away from the Lord.

I've got three reasons from those verses

that Beck just read for us.

First, from verses five to eight,

it's utter folly to forsake the Lord

after all the good he has done for you.

It's utter folly to forsake the Lord

after all the good he's done for you.

How could Israel forget this?

Verse six,

they did not say,

where is the Lord?

How could they forget,

verse six,

the God who brought them up

out of the land of Egypt?

How could they forget,

again in verse six,

the God who led them in the wilderness?

How could they forget,

verse seven,

the God who brought them into a plentiful land

to enjoy its fruits and its good things?

Now maybe forget isn't even really the right word here.

Maybe they didn't exactly forget.

They just lost interest.

Even the leaders who'd been charged

with reminding the people of the love of God,

even they lost interest.

Verse eight,

the priest did not say,

where is the Lord?

Those who handle the Lord did not know me.

The shepherds transgressed against me.

The prophets prophesied by Baal

and went after things that do not profit.

I mean, how can this be?

How can you forget God,

forsake God,

drift away from God,

just lose interest in God

when he's been so good to you?

I mean, if that's true for Israel,

isn't it even more true for us?

God forgave our sins.

God gave us his Holy Spirit.

God made us his own.

He adopted us as his children.

He will raise us up in glory.

He promises us eternity.

And now he protects us by faith as we wait.

He gifts us for service.

He places us in a community of people.

He teaches us love and humility

and self-control and righteousness.

Hasn't God been good?

To us?

How could we just lose interest in God?

It makes no sense.

I mean, what would we replace God with?

The God who's been so good to us.

Do you see what God says about it?

Like whatever we might replace God with?

Verse four,

they went after worthlessness

and became worthless.

That word worthlessness there

is the same word that's used

in the book of Ecclesiastes,

the Hebrew word hebel,

which means,

in that expression in the book of Ecclesiastes,

vanity of vanities,

or everything is meaningless.

It just means something that's vain,

it's empty,

it's vapor,

it's nothing.

They went far from

the living,

true,

good God

and went after

nothing,

worthlessness.

How could we do that?

Verse eight,

they went after things that,

end of verse eight,

that do not profit,

that give them nothing,

that,

from which no good comes.

empty idols.

Why?

It makes no sense.

There was a period last year

when I was becoming addicted

to a game on my phone.

Some of you are laughing.

Some of you are,

I don't know,

maybe looking sideways

or looking down

or something nervously.

But anyway,

I was becoming addicted

to a game on my phone

and Jen,

my wife,

she was patient with me

but not altogether silent

which was probably good.

But as I reflect back on that,

like what good

did it give me,

my attachment

to this game on my phone?

Like it just made me

more distracted,

more irritable.

I was reading less,

I was thinking about God less

and I didn't even enjoy it.

It was worthless.

It didn't profit.

And the more I went after it,

the more worthless I became.

Why would we forsake God

who brought us up

from sin and death,

who leads us in the wilderness,

who will bring us

into a plentiful land

to fill us with good things?

Why would we forsake God?

For that which is worthless

and does not profit.

It makes no sense.

Secondly,

verse 9 to 13,

it's utter folly

to forsake the Lord,

not only,

as we saw firstly,

because of the good

he's done for us,

but in verse 9 to 13,

it's utter folly

to forsake the Lord

because he himself

is our incomparable glory.

He himself

is our incomparable glory.

The best thing

about being saved by God

and belonging to God

and knowing God

is God himself.

Look at verse 10.

For cross to the coast

of Cyprus and see,

or send to Kedar

and examine with care

and see if there has been any,

if there has been such a thing.

Has a nation changed its gods?

I mean,

the other nations

don't go around

changing their gods.

Jeremiah says,

even though there are no gods,

even though they're fake

and they're nothing

and they're empty,

the nations don't change their gods.

But my people have changed,

see what God says here,

verse 11,

my people have changed

their glory

for that which does not profit.

When Israel gave up

on their God,

the God,

when Israel gave up on God,

they gave up their glory

for nothing.

The Lord was Israel's glory.

How much more is he our glory?

Of course,

we can't fully grasp

the glory of God,

but we get a sense,

a glimpse of the glory of God

when we behold his works.

See,

consider God's work of creation.

The heavens declare

the glory of God,

Psalm 19 says,

and modern science

has in no way

diminished their testimony.

You know,

an ancient Israelite

might look up

at the expansive beauty

of the night sky,

which we can't see

because we live in a city

and it's obscured

by all the lights,

city lights,

but an ancient Israelite

might look up

at the expansive beauty

of the night sky

and marvel

at the glory of God.

But do we marvel

any less

with telescopes

and satellites

peering into the depths

of the universe?

There are apparently

somewhere between

100 and 400 billion stars

in the Milky Way galaxy.

So let's take

the lower figure,

100 billion.

There are 8.3 billion people

on the planet Earth.

That means

in our galaxy alone

there are at least

12 times as many stars

as there are people.

I mean,

if we were to claim stars,

just divide them among,

we would have 12 stars each.

In the Milky Way galaxy.

I mean,

some of you think,

you know,

will you ever be able

to afford to buy a home

or something?

But you know,

there's 12 stars out there

for you

if you can get to them.

But that's just one galaxy.

I mean,

apparently,

I don't know

how on Earth

astrophysicists

come to this figure,

but apparently

there are perhaps

2 trillion galaxies

in the observable universe.

2,000 billion galaxies.

That's,

you can not only have

your 12 stars

in the Milky Way galaxy,

you can have

240 galaxies

in the observable universe.

I mean,

consider God's work

of creation

and he spoke

and it came into being,

isn't the Lord

glorious?

Consider God's work

of redemption.

The God

who created

all this.

The God

who is,

let me read some

words from the

Baptist Confession

of Faith,

which is just

summarizing Scripture.

The God

who is

infinite

in being

and perfection,

immutable,

immense,

eternal,

incomprehensible,

almighty,

every way,

infinite,

most holy,

most wise,

most free.

Again,

also from the

Baptist Confession,

he is alone

the fountain

of all being,

of whom,

through whom,

and to whom

are all things

and he hath

most sovereign

dominion

over all creatures

to do by them,

for them,

or upon them,

whatsoever

he himself

pleases.

Eternal,

almighty,

all powerful,

dominion

over all,

the fount

of all being

and yet

this same

God,

this very same

God in the

person of his

son entered

into his

creation,

subjected

himself

not only

to become

a man,

but to

suffer at

the hands

of men,

to suffer

the malice

and cruelty

of men,

whom he

himself had

made.

the God

who is

grieved

by our

sin

shed the

tears

that should

have been

ours.

The God

whose anger

is aroused

by our

sin

drank the

cup of

wrath

that should

have been

ours.

The God

whom we

had forsaken

was himself

forsaken

for us.

we have

seen his

glory,

the glory

of the

one and

only

son

who

came

from

the

father

full of

grace

and

truth.

You know,

someone will

be,

you know,

chuffed,

a bit

pleased with

themselves

when they

know a

reliable

mechanic

or plumber

that they

can recommend

to their

friends.

You know,

hard to

find.

we know

the living

God,

immortal

and

invisible.

He is

ours.

The vast

heavens

themselves,

God says,

the vast

heavens which

obey every

command of

their creator,

they shudder

at our

idolatry.

Verse 12,

be appalled,

O heavens,

at this.

Be shocked,

be utterly

desolate,

declares the

Lord,

for my

people have

committed

two evils.

They have

forsaken

me,

the fountain

of living

waters,

and hewed

out cisterns

for themselves,

broken cisterns

that can hold

no water.

It's utter

folly to

forsake the

Lord,

for he

himself

is our

supreme

glory.

Thirdly,

verse 14

to 19,

it's utter

folly to

forsake the

Lord,

because to

do so

leads to

our own

ruin.

Verse 14,

is Israel

a slave?

Is he a

home-born

servant?

Why then

has he

become a

prey?

The lions

have roared

against him,

they have

roared loudly,

they have

made his

land a

waste,

his cities

are a

ruin

without

inhabitant.

Israel

was not

redeemed

from Egypt

only to be

enslaved

again.

They were

not given

the plentiful

land,

only to have

it plundered

by the

nations

surrounding

them,

and yet

that is

what had

happened.

And God's

people had

no one to

blame but

themselves.

Verse 17,

have you

not brought

this upon

yourself by

forsaking the

Lord your

God when he

led you in

the way?

Verse 19,

your evil

will chastise

you,

and your

apostasy

will reprove

you.

Know and

see that it

is evil

and bitter

for you

to forsake

the Lord

your God.

The fear

of me

is not

in you,

declares

the Lord

God of

hosts.

See that it

is evil

and bitter

to forsake

the Lord.

Forsaking

the Lord

is evil,

it's wicked,

it's treacherous.

You know,

Aussies tend

to think

that,

you know,

our lives

are our

own,

we just

belong to

ourselves,

and,

you know,

maybe we'd

be doing

God a

huge favour

if we

were to

give him

a wave

or a nod

every now

and then.

But of

course,

that's

deception.

We belong

to him,

he owns

us,

we owe

him our

worship,

our love,

our obedience,

our devotion,

our trust.

God is not

a stranger

in the

universe,

he is the

owner of

the universe,

he is our

maker,

our master,

our Lord

and our

God,

our Father,

and it

is evil

to forsake

him.

But also,

it's bitter

to forsake

him.

For that

way leads

only to

desolation

and death

and misery

and ruin.

There's no

life apart

from the

fountain,

there's no

joy apart

from his

blessedness,

there's no

peace apart

from his

love.

What

utter

folly

to forsake

the Lord

our God.

The rest

of chapter

two

continues in

the same

vein,

we won't

look at

it.

I had

a few

verses

I was

going to

show you

but we're

shortish on

time so we'll

skip over

those.

But it

continues in

the same

vein.

Can you

see,

brothers and

sisters,

what utter

folly it is

to forsake

the Lord

after all

the good

he's done

for us

because he

himself is

our incomparable

glory when

forsaking him

leads only to

misery and

ruin.

Exchanging

the fountain

of living

water for

broken

cisterns is

never a

good deal.

I have

a friend

who forsook

the Lord

for a

relationship

with a

non-believer.

Another

friend who

forsook the

Lord out

of intellectual

pride and

in order to

fit in with

the world.

Another

friend who

forsook the

Lord as

academic and

professional

accomplishment

gradually

squeezed out

his love

for God.

God

and what

did any

of them

gain by

forsaking

the Lord?

Nothing.

And yet

aren't we

prone to

the same

defection?

Little

children

keep

yourselves

from idols.

and what

are we

tempted to

go after

worthlessness?

How often

do we

exchange our

glory for

that which

does not

profit?

How often

are our

hearts

captivated by

trivial things

rather than

the grandeur

and splendor

of God?

Jeremiah 2

has many

metaphors for

Israel's

relationship

with God

but there's

one central

recurring

metaphor

throughout

these chapters

and that

is of

Israel as

an unfaithful

bride

estranged

from her

husband.

And by

the time

we get

to chapter

3 God

asks the

question

have

Israel

and Judah

passed

the point

of no

return?

To look

just briefly

at a few

verses here

in chapter

3 verse

1

if a man

divorces

his wife

and she

goes from

him and

becomes

another

man's

wife

that's

what Israel

had done

left the

Lord and

married

someone else

gone after

other gods

if a man

divorces

his wife

and she

goes from

him

and becomes

another

man's

wife

will he

return to

her?

Would not

that land

be greatly

polluted?

You have

played the

whore with

many lovers

and would

you return

to me

declares

the Lord?

See what

God's saying

here?

He's saying

is it too

late?

God

would he

return?

God won't

return to

them.

They won't

return to

him.

Have they

passed the

point of

no return?

God

says

even if

you

make a

pretense

of

returning

to

me

it

won't

be

sincere.

Verse

4

Have you

not

just

now

called

to

me

my

father?

You're

the

friend

of

my

youth.

Will

he

be

angry

forever?

Will

he

be

indignant

to

the

end?

Behold

you've

spoken

but you

have done

all

the

evil

that

you

could.

Was

it

too

late

for

Israel

and

Judah?

Does

idolatry

push

us

past

the

point

of

no

return?

By

all

rights

it

does.

We

have

no

power

to

return

to

God.

We

have

no

right

to

expect

that

he

should

return

to

us.

Such

is

the

treachery

of

idolatry.

And

yet

and

yet

in

the

rest

of

chapter

three

we

hear

the

Lord

calling

to

Israel

again

and

again.

Chapter

three

verse

twelve

return

faithless

Israel.

Three

verse

fourteen

return

O

faithless

children.

Three

verse

twenty

two

return

O

faithless

sons.

Chapter

four

verse

one

return

O

Israel.

The

word

faithless

in

each

of

those

verses

in

chapter

three

twelve

fourteen

and

twenty

two

is

a

word

which

means

those

who

have

turned

those

who

have

turned

back

those

who

have

turned

away.

So

God

is

saying

you

who

have

turned

away

turn

back

to

me.

You

have

turned

away

Israel

my

sons

return

now

there's

a

complexity

to

Jeremiah

chapter

three

that I

don't

want

to

ignore

but

also

which

I

don't

want

to

distract

us.

So

let's

make

a

deal

I

want

to

make

a

deal

with

you

I

will

do

my

best

to

explain

it

as

briefly

as

I

can

and

I

want

you

to

do

your

best

to

be

patient

with

me

as

I

do

try

and

explain

it.

Okay

we'll

get

to

the

main

point

soon

I

realise

we

haven't

read

out

chapter

three

I'm

not

going

to

read

it

out

in

full

I'll

show

you

some

verses

that

you

need

to

see

here's

the

complexity

right

you

see

there

in

chapter

three

verse

six

the

first

it's

the

Lord

said

to

me

in

the

days

of

King

Josiah

now

we'll

come

back

to

that

but

you

might

remember

Josiah

is

the

king

who

was

king

when

Jeremiah

was

called

as

a

prophet

the

first

of

the

five

kings

that

Jeremiah

would

outlast

and so

this

is

early

days

in

Jeremiah's

ministry

we'll

come

back

to

King

Josiah

but

then

in

verses

six

to

ten

we

have

this

extended

metaphor

of

two

sisters

there

is

in

verse

six

one

sister

whom

God

calls

faithless

Israel

and

the

second

sister

whom

God

calls

in

verse

eight

treacherous

Judah

Israel

and

Judah

two

sisters

now

the

background

to that

is the

history

of

Israel

around

around

1000

BC

David

King

David

was

king

over

all

of

Israel

and

as

was

his

son

Solomon

but

after

Solomon's

death

and this

is

some

300

years

before

Jeremiah

after

Solomon's

death

Israel

split

in

two

the

northern

part

the

northern

kingdom

confusingly

continued

to be

called

Israel

and the

southern

kingdom

was

called

Judah

so

when we

have

this

extended

metaphor

of

these

two

sisters

faithless

Israel

treacherous

Judah

it's

talking

about

the

northern

kingdom

and the

southern

kingdom

after

Israel

split

in

two

what

happened

to

Israel

well

verse

six

to

eight

have

you

seen

what

she

did

that

faithless

one

Israel

how

she

went

up

on

every

high

hill

and

under

every

green

tree

and

there

played

the

whore

and I

thought

after

she

has

done

all

this

she'll

return

to

me

but

she

did

not

return

and her

treacherous

sister

Judah

saw

it

she

saw

that

for

all

the

adulteries

of that

faithless

one

Israel

I

had

sent

her

away

with

a

decree

of

divorce

Israel

was

faithless

in

Jeremiah

day

Israel

was

overthrown

by the

Assyrian

empire

the

people

of

Israel

were

deported

and

Israel

the

northern

kingdom

ceased

to

exist

as a

geopolitical

entity

other

people

were

moved

into

the

land

it

was

effectively

wiped

out

as a

nation

but

what

about

Judah

the

southern

kingdom

where

Jeremiah

lived

well

verse

8

you know

she'd

seen

what

happened

to

Israel

and

yet

her

treacherous

sister

Judah

did

not

fear

but

she

too

went

and

played

the

whore

committing

adultery

Indeed

God

goes on

to make

the

shocking

claim

in

verse

11

faithless

Israel

has

shown

herself

more

righteous

than

treacherous

Judah

the

people

that

had

already

been

wiped

out

by

the

Assyrians

God

said

are

better

than

you

who

remain

from

verse

12

to

the

end

of

the

chapter

God

continues

to

rebuke

Judah

but

he

does

it

in

a

kind

of

strange

way

verse

12

God

says

to

Jeremiah

go

and

proclaim

these

words

toward

the

north

and

say

return

faithless

Israel

declares

so

proclaim

these

words

towards

the

north

so

from

Jerusalem

from

Judah

Jeremiah

is

facing

north

toward

Israel

and

proclaiming

God's

message

to

Israel

that

northern

kingdom

that's

no longer

there

you with

me

but

he's

doing

it

in

Jerusalem

so

that

actually

the

people

who

are

listening

to

this

proclamation

to

Israel

are

Judah

for

hearing

the

message

the

prophecy

that

Jeremiah

is

saying

to

Israel

and

it

and

what

God

says

to

Israel

is

return

it

would

be

a bit

like

to

give

you

a

trivial

illustration

like

if

I

had

sent

my

eldest

daughter

Hannah

to

her

room

for

answering

back

and

being

disobedient

perish

the

thought