Do You See What Apostate Israel Did? [Jeremiah 3:6]

Jer 3:6-10 During the reign of King Josiah, the LORD said to me, "Have you seen what faithless Israel has done? She has gone up on every high hill and under every spreading tree and has committed adultery there. 7 I thought that after she had done all this she would return to me but she did not, and her unfaithful sister Judah saw it. 8 I gave faithless Israel her certificate of divorce and sent her away because of all her adulteries. Yet I saw that her unfaithful sister Judah had no fear; she also went out and committed adultery. 9 Because Israel's immorality mattered so little to her, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stone and wood. 10 In spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to me with all her heart, but only in pretense," declares the LORD.

Ps 69:6 May those who hope in you not be disgraced because of me, O Lord, the LORD Almighty; may those who seek you not be put to shame because of me, O God of Israel.

CAN YOU LEARN FROM SOMEONE ELSE’S MISTAKE?

Judah didn’t. After Solomon died, his Kingdom was divided into two new kingdoms. Israel to the north consisted of 10 of the 12 tribes. It also was known as Samaria. The other country known as Judah – predominantly the tribe of Judah – David’s tribe – was the southern kingdom. When? About 120 years before Jeremiah, the Assyrians took the 10 tribes and in the manner of conquest at that time, distributed the people throughout the Assyrian Empire. Scripture says the Medes. Some call these the "lost tribes."

What did the Northern Kingdom do? Think Jezebel. And Ahab.

1 Kings 16:29-33 In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab son of Omri became king of Israel, and he reigned in Samaria over Israel twenty-two years. 30 Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the LORD than any of those before him. 31 He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, but he also married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him. 32 He set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he built in Samaria. 33 Ahab also made an Asherah pole and did more to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger than did all the kings of Israel before him.

An another 100 years of evil leadership and practice...

2 Kings 17:15-17 They rejected his decrees and the covenant he had made with their fathers and the warnings he had given them. They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless. They imitated the nations around them although the LORD had ordered them, "Do not do as they do," and they did the things the LORD had forbidden them to do.

16 They forsook all the commands of the LORD their God and made for themselves two idols cast in the shape of calves, and an Asherah pole. They bowed down to all the starry hosts, and they worshiped Baal. 17 They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire. They practiced divination and sorcery and sold themselves to do evil in the eyes of the LORD, provoking him to anger.

The history continues noting that even Judah went down the same path.

2 Kings 17:18-19 So the LORD was very angry with Israel and removed them from his presence. Only the tribe of Judah was left, 19 and even Judah did not keep the commands of the LORD their God. They followed the practices Israel had introduced.

The historian repeats a synopsis of the history of God’s chosen people.

2 Kings 17:21-41 21 When he tore Israel away from the house of David, they made Jeroboam son of Nebat their king. Jeroboam enticed Israel away from following the LORD and caused them to commit a great sin. 22 The Israelites persisted in all the sins of Jeroboam and did not turn away from them 23 until the LORD removed them from his presence, as he had warned through all his servants the prophets. So the people of Israel were taken from their homeland into exile in Assyria , and they are still there.

24 The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath and Sepharvaim and settled them in the towns of Samaria to replace the Israelites. They took over Samaria and lived in its towns. 25 When they first lived there, they did not worship the LORD; so he sent lions among them and they killed some of the people. 26 It was reported to the king of Assyria : "The people you deported and resettled in the towns of Samaria do not know what the god of that country requires. He has sent lions among them, which are killing them off, because the people do not know what he requires."

27 Then the king of Assyria gave this order: "Have one of the priests you took captive from Samaria go back to live there and teach the people what the god of the land requires." 28 So one of the priests who had been exiled from Samaria came to live in Bethel and taught them how to worship the LORD.

29 Nevertheless, each national group made its own gods in the several towns where they settled, and set them up in the shrines the people of Samaria had made at the high places. 30 The men from Babylon made Succoth Benoth, the men from Cuthah made Nergal, and the men from Hamath made Ashima; 31 the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire as sacrifices to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim. 32 They worshiped the LORD, but they also appointed all sorts of their own people to officiate for them as priests in the shrines at the high places. 33 They worshiped the LORD, but they also served their own gods in accordance with the customs of the nations from which they had been brought.

34 To this day they persist in their former practices. They neither worship the LORD nor adhere to the decrees and ordinances, the laws and commands that the LORD gave the descendants of Jacob, whom he named Israel. 35 When the LORD made a covenant with the Israelites, he commanded them: "Do not worship any other gods or bow down to them, serve them or sacrifice to them. 36 But the LORD, who brought you up out of Egypt with mighty power and outstretched arm, is the one you must worship. To him you shall bow down and to him offer sacrifices. 37 You must always be careful to keep the decrees and ordinances, the laws and commands he wrote for you. Do not worship other gods. 38 Do not forget the covenant I have made with you, and do not worship other gods. 39 Rather, worship the LORD your God; it is he who will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies."

40 They would not listen, however, but persisted in their former practices. 41 Even while these people were worshiping the LORD, they were serving their idols. To this day their children and grandchildren continue to do as their fathers did.

WHAT WERE THOSE SINS? DO WE NEED A LIST?

They rejected God’s decrees.

They rejected God’s covenant.

They rejected God’s warnings.

They followed worthless idols and became worthless themself.

Asherah poles:

ASHERAH This was the name of a sensual Canaanitish goddess Astarte, the feminine of the Assyrian Ishtar. Its symbol was the stem of a tree deprived of its boughs, and rudely shaped into an image, and planted in the ground. (from Easton's Bible Dictionary, PC Study Bible formatted electronic database Copyright © 2003 Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)

ISHTAR: one of the chief deities of the Assyrians and Babylonians alike, although she was generically one of the deities of the second rank. She was the daughter of the moon-god Sin, and was identified by the Chaldaeans with the planet Venus. She was essentially a warlike goddess, and was called the "Goddess of Battles and of Victories," in which attribute she was often represented as giving a bow to the Assyrian king in token of his victories over his foes. She was also, as, the goddess of productive nature, the keeper of all the treasures of the earth, and hence was figured as Allat, the "Queen of the Spear or Divining-rod." In another form of the same principle she was the goddess of sensual indulgence. (from McClintock and Strong Encyclopedia, Electronic Database. Copyright © 2000, 2003 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Bowed down to the starry host.

Worshiped Baal.

Sacrificed their children in fire.

Practiced Divination

Practiced Sorcery

And sold themselves to do evil in the eyes of the LORD

SOLD THEMSELVES TO DO EVIL?

I wonder what that means? Is it the same as the wages of sin or is it something else? And then there is this verse one more time.

2 Kings 17:33 They worshiped the LORD, but they also served their own gods in accordance with the customs of the nations from which they had been brought.

Wait a minute. You mean you can worship the Lord AND serve your own gods? You mean just because you are jumping up and down to the latest praise music with drums and guitars and tears streaming down your face in joy and your hands are raised, you could still be serving your own gods? Does this mean that it really is possible that a worship music leader could simultaneously be having illicit relations and creating pornography? Shocking.

SORCERY

Most of the time in our contemporary western church environment, we don’t concern ourselves too much about the problems of sorcery. Though at times we engage in a little "magic" thinking when we believe the anointing oil, or water baptism, or communion, or a prayer cloth goes beyond a tactile symbol of what God has promised. Laying on of hands will not save, but laying on of hands is used to transfer anointing. Is it the hands that does it? Water cannot remove sin, but the symbolism that we take of dying to self is important, but hell has a strong population of baptized people who have also been confirmed and taken communion.

DIVINATION

Divination is usually reserved for witches, seers, and people in garish costumes with crystal balls who have customers who want to know the future. However, Pentecostals sometimes love to visit their favorite seer for a Word from the Lord. Of course, we call them prophets. We all want to know the will of God for the future. Sometimes we will do actually strange things to find out that will: such as marry a particular person because a Word of the Lord came to someone and they told us to do it. Just how many lives have been messed up because of this junk?

CHILDREN TO THE FIRE

In our modern society, we would be appalled if we learned of a people who offered their children to be burned. But, followers of militant Islam give their children up as suicide bombers. Their children drive car bombs with themselves in it. And they fly airplanes into buildings. But before we get so self-righteous in our western society, the debate of judges right now has to do with a woman’s right to kill her own unborn child. And what do you think happens to that human flesh once it has been torn apart by sterile medicine man and his scalpels? He or she is burned. America offers hundreds of her children to the fire, daily. For what reason? Convenience. If someone has to die because of a pregnancy, why shouldn’t it be the father first? It would save a lot of grief later.

Baal is a sun god or a god of fertility. While our society kills its unborn, it is also preoccupied with fertility. But we seem to desire designer babies: the right genes at the right time.

STARRY HOST

Western society and the church does not worship the starry host, or do we. I doubt that this is talking about the alignment of the planets. More than likely, it is taking about the same stars that fell from heaven or maybe have not yet fallen. Maybe they meet with God.

Neh 9:6 You alone are the LORD. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host , the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.

Right there is real strong scriptural support for life in outer space. Better start learning Klingon.

Ps 33:6 By the word of the LORD were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth.

And they have the breath of God in them. This is a startling understanding. Romulans have the breath of God in them?

Isa 40:26 Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these?

He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name.

Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.

Dan 8:10 It grew until it reached the host of the heavens, and it threw some of the starry host down to the earth and trampled on them.

Zeph 1:4-6 "I will stretch out my hand against Judah and against all who live in Jerusalem.

I will cut off from this place every remnant of Baal, the names of the pagan and the idolatrous priests-

5 those who bow down on the roofs to worship the starry host ,

those who bow down and swear by the LORD and who also swear by Molech,

6 those who turn back from following the LORD and neither seek the LORD nor inquire of him.

Does the church worship angels – or worse – fallen angels? From whom do you hear the word of the Lord? Eliphaz the Temanite counseled Job with his revelation.

Job 4:12-19 "A word was secretly brought to me, my ears caught a whisper of it.

13 Amid disquieting dreams in the night, when deep sleep falls on men,

14 fear and trembling seized me and made all my bones shake.

15 A spirit glided past my face, and the hair on my body stood on end.

16 It stopped, but I could not tell what it was.

A form stood before my eyes, and I heard a hushed voice:

17'Can a mortal be more righteous than God? Can a man be more pure than his Maker?

18 If God places no trust in his servants, if he charges his angels with error,

19 how much more those who live in houses of clay, whose foundations are in the dust,

who are crushed more readily than a moth!

Where and how does the church get its doctrine? Do you have the protection of the five-fold ministry and the function of all the Gifts of the Spirit in the body, or are you relying on one voice which might be your own? Contrary to common practice in the church, the Trinity is not Father, Son, and King James Version. Holy Spirit was sent to teach the church. He gave us gifts to edify the church. He inspired scripture that is profitable for...

2 Tim 3:16-17 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

2 Peter 1:20-21 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. 21 For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

What scripture was Paul and Peter talking about? The Old Testament. They were writing the New Testament at the time. If the Gifts were limited to the time of the Apostles and the completion of the New Testament, then we have changed the Trinity and should baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the King James Version. The Gifts are for now so we don’t listen to the starry host.

ASHERAH

Asherah poles? Sexual perversity. Seems to be a symbol of our society. Look at our billboards, our magazines, our TV programming, our national "heroes." Look at our churches.

God has given us warnings. Can we learn from the mistakes of the past? We as a supposedly Christian nation have nothing on apostate Israel. We as a nation have not learned the lessons of past nations that have fallen under the judgment of God. Have we as a church learned the lessons from the apostate church or churches of the past? Do we even know any church history? Have we as Pentecostals learned from the mistakes of the Pentecostals in the past? Do we as individuals learn from the mistakes of others.

Someone said someplace in some form similar to this: Those who don’t study history are condemned to repeat it.

What was young man Jeremiah told to do? Look at apostate Israel. For what purpose? To learn.

They rejected God’s law. They rejected God’s covenant. They were judged. Are we any better?