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"This is your wickedness"

Text: Jeremiah 4:18

THE REASON WHY JUDAH WOULD SUFFER INVASION

The Babylonian invaders were the nascent empire that had conquered the once mighty Assyrians. They were planning their invasion carefully, as one may expect of mighty empires.

“‘Like keepers of a field they are against her all around,
Because she has been rebellious against Me,’ says the LORD.
‘Your ways and your doings
Have procured these things for you.
This is your wickedness,
Because it is bitter,
Because it reaches to your heart.'”
Jeremiah 4:17-18

1. “Like keepers of a field they are against her all around”

a) They were called “watchers” (Jeremiah 4:16).

b) They were also called “keepers” (Jeremiah 4:17).

c) These were not terms that normally describe people who own fields.

i) Fields did not have “watchers”.

ii) They also did not have “keepers”.

d) The Babylonians were different.

i) They kept watch over the countries they planned to invade.

ii) They carefully kept what they knew of the countries they had observed.

iii) They would launch an attack when they were good and ready.

2. God’s Protection

a) God had been Judah’s shield.

b) But the people had spurned the LORD.

c) That shield of protection would be withdrawn.

3. “‘Because she has been rebellious against Me,’ says the LORD”

a) This was the reason God gave as to why Judah would fall to the Babylonians.

b) Judah had been rebellious against the LORD.

4. An expansion of the problem of “rebellion”

a) “Your ways and your doings have procured these things for you. This is your wickedness”

i) There was much wickedness in the land.

ii) Judah’s wickedness was seen in its “ways” and “doings”.

iii) As a result, they would suffer invasion from the Babylonians.

b) “Because it is bitter, because it reaches to your heart”

i) The invasion would be a bitter experience.

ii) Its bitterness would reach the heart.

iii) Judah’s wickedness had caused many victims to suffer bitterly.

iv) The nation would now experience what they had caused others to experience.