"Thou hast forsaken Me, saith the LORD, thou art gone backward:
therefore will I stretch out My hand against thee, and destroy thee;
I am weary with repenting." – Jeremiah 15:6
“I am weary with holding in” – Jeremiah 6:11
therefore will I stretch out My hand against thee, and destroy thee;
I am weary with repenting." – Jeremiah 15:6
“I am weary with holding in” – Jeremiah 6:11
By Covenant, vow, oath, promise, salvation, and therefore, by God’s choosing and election of Israel, it is clearly understood that God willed for their salvation (its beginning, present progression, and perseverance to finality). Along the sojourning and perseverance of their present progressive salvation, they provoked God to awful stirrings of His divine anger, and many a time He willed, purposed, intended, began to, and sought (God in the ways of man) to annihilate His people. If this will was God in the ways of God, it could not have changed, but God is not relating to Israel on the basis of His unchanging, higher, eternal, ways (God in the ways of God). “But being full of compassion,” God “forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: Yea, many a time turned He His anger away, and did not stir up all His wrath. For He remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again” (Ps. 78:38-39). “Therefore He said that He would destroy them, had not Moses His chosen stood before Him in the breach, to turn away His wrath, lest He should destroy them” (Ps. 106:23). Oh, the great necessity of intercessors! God, in the Holy Ghost and through His servant Moses, did stand against the will of God to destroy, being emboldened by the will of God to save, because this will of God was “willing and working” (Php. 2) within him to intercede. The surmounting of wrath did increasingly break forth upon the people, until finally, the entirety of the covenanted generation (aside from Caleb, Joshua, and the Levites) were cast away in reprobation without any means of intercession, divine repentance, or reversal of decision on the part of God. How do we know what is the will of God, or, which will is “God in the ways of God” while in the midst of the divine storm of God’s own wills wrestling against each other? The will of God that comes to fruition as the final end was the eternal and unchanging will of God.
Sadly, the generations of Israel that lived on did follow in the works of the exodus generation, “Thus were they defiled with their own works, and went whoring with their own inventions. Therefore was the wrath of the LORD kindled against His people, insomuch that He abhorred His own inheritance” (Ps. 106:39-40). This is a fulfillment of the responsive, reactive will of God when He sees rebellious works, as He said in Leviticus 26:27-31, “Then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury…and cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, and My soul shall abhor you. And I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savour of your sweet odours.” The salvation of the exodus generation was persevered through the intercession of the prophet Moses, as well as others (from the beginning until their reprobation). After Moses, God rose up like prophets as intercessors for His wayward people, and this continued throughout the centuries, but depending on the magnitude of sin being committed, intercession will succeed or fail. As the rebellion repeats itself, the love of God becomes exceedingly wearied to restrain the angry will of God to justly destroy. The angry will of God did intend to, and even begun to annihilate His people many times, and yet, still, through many means of intercession it was successfully and continually pacified so that the purpose to annihilate was repented of. So, through the repentance of God’s will to destroy, God’s mind to save is scarcely secured; yet what happens when God is “weary with repenting?” These are the words of the Lord in Jeremiah 15:6: “I am weary with repenting” – weary with changing His mind back into the former purpose which was to keep His people alive, which would be to persevere them as an object of His love. When God is weary of repentance, it is then that He thinks and purposes to destroy… it means that He is weary of changing His mind from destruction. At this time, the sovereign will of His eternal Godhead rises to its execution (God in the ways of God) in a will that cannot be repented of (1 Sam. 15:29). As it is written, “I thought to punish you, when your fathers provoked Me to wrath, saith the LORD of hosts, and I repented not” (Zech. 8:14).
Many times the Lord thought to annihilate, but now it is so, that, “like as the LORD of hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath He dealt with us” (Zech. 1:6). All the times of successful intercession which changed what God “thought to do unto” Israel, all the way up to this point, were choice and elect mercies given to men whose deeds necessitated such thoughts of annihilation rising in the mind of God, but now those former thoughts which were repented of have their execution upon Israel because they provoked Him long enough. To say, “I am weary with repenting,” is to say, “I have changed My mind so many times as I sought after, spoke about, and was intent on destroying you, that now I am weary with changing My mind from annihilating you. I am weary of hearing the prayers of ntercessors which formerly won My heart to repent and have mercy.” Therefore God sets His heart, mind, and intent upon their destruction, declaring that, this time, “I have purposed it, and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it” (Jer. 4:28). Read the whole verse and see how destruction is in God’s heart – “For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black: because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it” (Jer. 4:28). This purpose and word is declared to be without repentance, or a turning back, for He is weary of mercy which did formerly and undeservedly preserve sinning saints.
Sadly, the generations of Israel that lived on did follow in the works of the exodus generation, “Thus were they defiled with their own works, and went whoring with their own inventions. Therefore was the wrath of the LORD kindled against His people, insomuch that He abhorred His own inheritance” (Ps. 106:39-40). This is a fulfillment of the responsive, reactive will of God when He sees rebellious works, as He said in Leviticus 26:27-31, “Then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury…and cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, and My soul shall abhor you. And I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savour of your sweet odours.” The salvation of the exodus generation was persevered through the intercession of the prophet Moses, as well as others (from the beginning until their reprobation). After Moses, God rose up like prophets as intercessors for His wayward people, and this continued throughout the centuries, but depending on the magnitude of sin being committed, intercession will succeed or fail. As the rebellion repeats itself, the love of God becomes exceedingly wearied to restrain the angry will of God to justly destroy. The angry will of God did intend to, and even begun to annihilate His people many times, and yet, still, through many means of intercession it was successfully and continually pacified so that the purpose to annihilate was repented of. So, through the repentance of God’s will to destroy, God’s mind to save is scarcely secured; yet what happens when God is “weary with repenting?” These are the words of the Lord in Jeremiah 15:6: “I am weary with repenting” – weary with changing His mind back into the former purpose which was to keep His people alive, which would be to persevere them as an object of His love. When God is weary of repentance, it is then that He thinks and purposes to destroy… it means that He is weary of changing His mind from destruction. At this time, the sovereign will of His eternal Godhead rises to its execution (God in the ways of God) in a will that cannot be repented of (1 Sam. 15:29). As it is written, “I thought to punish you, when your fathers provoked Me to wrath, saith the LORD of hosts, and I repented not” (Zech. 8:14).
Many times the Lord thought to annihilate, but now it is so, that, “like as the LORD of hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath He dealt with us” (Zech. 1:6). All the times of successful intercession which changed what God “thought to do unto” Israel, all the way up to this point, were choice and elect mercies given to men whose deeds necessitated such thoughts of annihilation rising in the mind of God, but now those former thoughts which were repented of have their execution upon Israel because they provoked Him long enough. To say, “I am weary with repenting,” is to say, “I have changed My mind so many times as I sought after, spoke about, and was intent on destroying you, that now I am weary with changing My mind from annihilating you. I am weary of hearing the prayers of ntercessors which formerly won My heart to repent and have mercy.” Therefore God sets His heart, mind, and intent upon their destruction, declaring that, this time, “I have purposed it, and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it” (Jer. 4:28). Read the whole verse and see how destruction is in God’s heart – “For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black: because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it” (Jer. 4:28). This purpose and word is declared to be without repentance, or a turning back, for He is weary of mercy which did formerly and undeservedly preserve sinning saints.
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Attempted Intercession
“Then said the LORD unto me, though Moses and Samuel stood before Me, yet My mind could not be toward this people: cast them out of My sight, and let them go forth” (Jer. 15:1). |
Jeremiah the prophet attempts intercession for this generation of Israel that was under this terrifying, eternal indictment. He pleads on their behalf to God, “Hast Thou utterly rejected Judah? Hath Thy soul loathed Zion? Why hast Thou smitten us, and there is no healing for us? We looked for peace, and there is no good; and for the time of healing, and behold trouble! We acknowledge, O LORD, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers: for we have sinned against Thee. Do not abhor us, for Thy name’s sake, do not disgrace the throne of Thy glory: remember, break not Thy covenant with us” (Jer. 14:19-21). What is God’s response to the intercessor, the prophet that stands in the breach to turn away His wrath? “Then said the LORD unto me, though Moses and Samuel stood before Me, yet My mind could not be toward this people: cast them out of My sight, and let them go forth” (Jer. 15:1). Even a prophet of the stature and reputation of Moses and Samuel, prophets that turned away God’s wrath many times from His wayward, hell-deserving people, even for them He would not repent! At Moses’ and Samuel’s intercessions God arose to salvation, He dispensed the riches of His mercy again and again, and yet, for this people, God pronounces the woeful condition – “Thus saith the LORD unto this people, Thus have they loved to wander, they have not refrained their feet, therefore the LORD doth not accept them; He will now remember their iniquity, and visit their sins. Then said the LORD unto me [Jeremiah], Pray not for this people for their good. When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and an oblation, I will not accept them: but I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence” (Jer. 14:10-12).
What sweet and gladsome experience did Moses have for 40 days in uninterrupted glory on Mount Sinai, when God taught him all the intricacies of a Covenant which enabled the awesome nearness of His holy Presence? For forty days, Moses was mesmerized in worshipful anticipation of receiving God in their midst, seated upon His earthly throne (the ark), inside the holy Tent of His earthly abode. Yet, there is a bittersweet reality in this, for God is a Great and Terrible God. I will remind you that the fortieth day came, and lo, the sweet communion Moses was turned into bitter weeping and prayerful intercession, and following this, severe executions and blood-red streets, and then still more – God’s angry, Covenant-breaking rebukes upon a wayward people until the man of God Moses was astonished in horror (Exodus 32-33)! The word that came to Moses on day 40 was, “Now therefore let Me alone, that My wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation” (Ex. 32:10). As you may recall, this is the beginning of “The Great Pause,” and this was not the last time Moses would stand in the gap against the will of God to totally annihilate…but look at and remember the mercy of God’s eventual pardon even though it was scarcely attained. God did have mercy! Here, and onward through later intercessions, it was His mercy that they were not entirely consumed, that only hundreds of thousands instead of millions perished, but when Ezekiel (a contemporary prophet with Jeremiah) echoed the same intercessions for his generation, even the same cries formerly pled by Moses, though he cried, “Ah Lord God! Wilt Thou destroy all the residue of Israel in Thy pouring out of Thy fury upon Jerusalem” (Ezek. 9:8), God did not repent! “Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God” (Rom. 11:22). At the hour of Israel and Judah’s captivities, comparatively to the mercy dispensed in Moses’ generation, it was a time when “God spared not” (Rom. 11:21).
Can we say that God in the ways of man did not will for this generation to be saved? Nay, Israel in this generation, as others, was representative of the “saved” (Jude 5), redeemed (Deut. 7:7-11, Ex. 6:6-7), “chosen” (Psalm 33:12, Deut. 7:7-11), people (Ex. 6:6-7), who were loved (Deut. 7:7-11, Hos. 11:1, Ezek. 16:8, Jer. 2:2-3), in “holiness” (Jer. 2:2-3), anointed with oil (Ezek. 16:9), in a Covenant of marriage (Ezek. 16:8, Jer. 2:2), called a son (Hos. 11:1), and the “called” (Hos. 11:1).This generation may not have experienced personal salvation; however, nigh to and on the eve of this judgment, there were numerous revivals in their righteous seasons, under certain kings like Asa, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, and Josiah. In Jeremiah 9:1-3, God shows the tender love He has for His people in that He is condemning them against His will (God in the ways of man).
What sweet and gladsome experience did Moses have for 40 days in uninterrupted glory on Mount Sinai, when God taught him all the intricacies of a Covenant which enabled the awesome nearness of His holy Presence? For forty days, Moses was mesmerized in worshipful anticipation of receiving God in their midst, seated upon His earthly throne (the ark), inside the holy Tent of His earthly abode. Yet, there is a bittersweet reality in this, for God is a Great and Terrible God. I will remind you that the fortieth day came, and lo, the sweet communion Moses was turned into bitter weeping and prayerful intercession, and following this, severe executions and blood-red streets, and then still more – God’s angry, Covenant-breaking rebukes upon a wayward people until the man of God Moses was astonished in horror (Exodus 32-33)! The word that came to Moses on day 40 was, “Now therefore let Me alone, that My wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation” (Ex. 32:10). As you may recall, this is the beginning of “The Great Pause,” and this was not the last time Moses would stand in the gap against the will of God to totally annihilate…but look at and remember the mercy of God’s eventual pardon even though it was scarcely attained. God did have mercy! Here, and onward through later intercessions, it was His mercy that they were not entirely consumed, that only hundreds of thousands instead of millions perished, but when Ezekiel (a contemporary prophet with Jeremiah) echoed the same intercessions for his generation, even the same cries formerly pled by Moses, though he cried, “Ah Lord God! Wilt Thou destroy all the residue of Israel in Thy pouring out of Thy fury upon Jerusalem” (Ezek. 9:8), God did not repent! “Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God” (Rom. 11:22). At the hour of Israel and Judah’s captivities, comparatively to the mercy dispensed in Moses’ generation, it was a time when “God spared not” (Rom. 11:21).
Can we say that God in the ways of man did not will for this generation to be saved? Nay, Israel in this generation, as others, was representative of the “saved” (Jude 5), redeemed (Deut. 7:7-11, Ex. 6:6-7), “chosen” (Psalm 33:12, Deut. 7:7-11), people (Ex. 6:6-7), who were loved (Deut. 7:7-11, Hos. 11:1, Ezek. 16:8, Jer. 2:2-3), in “holiness” (Jer. 2:2-3), anointed with oil (Ezek. 16:9), in a Covenant of marriage (Ezek. 16:8, Jer. 2:2), called a son (Hos. 11:1), and the “called” (Hos. 11:1).This generation may not have experienced personal salvation; however, nigh to and on the eve of this judgment, there were numerous revivals in their righteous seasons, under certain kings like Asa, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, and Josiah. In Jeremiah 9:1-3, God shows the tender love He has for His people in that He is condemning them against His will (God in the ways of man).
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"Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! for they be all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men. And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies: but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not Me, saith the LORD" (Jeremiah 9:1-3).
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God’s saving love to Israel laments (God in the ways of man), and simultaneously, God’s eternal hatred of them is finally satisfied (God in the ways of God), but the way in which this eternal election of damnation was manifested within time was by their rejection, resistance, and spurning of His saving lovingkindness within time (God in the ways of man).
Alongside this lamentation, God accounts of the covenantal implications this surmounting of wrath had, in relation to His saved, redeemed, chosen, holy, anointed, people who are called His sons and wife – in Covenant. What does it mean for God to repent not and to destroy? Each prophet accounts of this work, rightly so, just as a judge ought to justify the Just. The prophets justify and make clear exactly what God has repented of, and what He has done, that, heretofore, His people might understand. Our merciful God knows our wretched forgetfulness, and so He employs prophets to record Divine happenings. Before God repented, Israel was loved (Deut. 7:7-11, Hos. 11:1, Ezek. 16:8, Jer. 2:2-3),but now God says, “I will love them no more” (Hos. 1:15). God’s saving love toward Israel did save (Jude 5), redeem (Deut. 7:7-11, Ex. 6:6-7), and anoint them (Ezek. 16:9), even because they were His “chosen” “people” (Ps. 33:12, Deut. 7:7-11), His sons, and His wife. Yet now after God has repented, now there is no more love. God says, “My soul shall abhor you” (Lev. 26:30)! And consequentially He is refusing to dwell among Israel (Lev. 26:12, 31-32). Just as there is no more love, God renounces Israel as His people and wife (Hos. 1:9-10, 2:1), and His hatred is merciless unto reprobation like never before, with a very small remnant exempt (Isaiah 1:9, Hos. 1:6, 9:15-17).
For God to love Israel, He shows it by drawing near to dwell among them as their God. Therefore they, in this manner, become His people. Where His presence is, there His people are (Ex. 33:16). As it is written, “And I will set My Tabernacle among you: My soul shall not abhor you. And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be My people” (Lev. 26:11-12). This is the establishment of the Covenant (Lev. 26:9). If God hates them, then behold, He will destroy His Tabernacle, or the House of His dwelling, and He will choose rather to leave His people. In this case we can understand that, now, God is choosing, saving, redeeming, and anointing another people to be His sons and daughters, His bride, and His people. Look at the deeds and consequences of God’s love, opposed to the deeds and consequences of God’s hatred. Contrastingly, God’s love is seen in Lev. 26:11-12. When and if God says, “My soul shall abhor you,” then He does to Israel the opposite of what His Covenant of love did formerly accomplish: “And I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savour of the sweet odours. And I will bring the land unto desolation: and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it” (Lev. 26:30-32). God did dwell among them, but now He says – “Woe also to them when I depart from them” (Hos. 9:12)! Again He says, “for the wickedness of their doings I will drive them out of Mine House, I will love them no more,” and again, “there I hated them” (Hos. 9:15). The prophet Hosea proclaims, “My God will cast them away, because they did not hearken unto Him: and they shall be wanderers among the nations” (Hos. 9:17). God’s message of hatred is clear, with all the implications therewith…
Alongside this lamentation, God accounts of the covenantal implications this surmounting of wrath had, in relation to His saved, redeemed, chosen, holy, anointed, people who are called His sons and wife – in Covenant. What does it mean for God to repent not and to destroy? Each prophet accounts of this work, rightly so, just as a judge ought to justify the Just. The prophets justify and make clear exactly what God has repented of, and what He has done, that, heretofore, His people might understand. Our merciful God knows our wretched forgetfulness, and so He employs prophets to record Divine happenings. Before God repented, Israel was loved (Deut. 7:7-11, Hos. 11:1, Ezek. 16:8, Jer. 2:2-3),but now God says, “I will love them no more” (Hos. 1:15). God’s saving love toward Israel did save (Jude 5), redeem (Deut. 7:7-11, Ex. 6:6-7), and anoint them (Ezek. 16:9), even because they were His “chosen” “people” (Ps. 33:12, Deut. 7:7-11), His sons, and His wife. Yet now after God has repented, now there is no more love. God says, “My soul shall abhor you” (Lev. 26:30)! And consequentially He is refusing to dwell among Israel (Lev. 26:12, 31-32). Just as there is no more love, God renounces Israel as His people and wife (Hos. 1:9-10, 2:1), and His hatred is merciless unto reprobation like never before, with a very small remnant exempt (Isaiah 1:9, Hos. 1:6, 9:15-17).
For God to love Israel, He shows it by drawing near to dwell among them as their God. Therefore they, in this manner, become His people. Where His presence is, there His people are (Ex. 33:16). As it is written, “And I will set My Tabernacle among you: My soul shall not abhor you. And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be My people” (Lev. 26:11-12). This is the establishment of the Covenant (Lev. 26:9). If God hates them, then behold, He will destroy His Tabernacle, or the House of His dwelling, and He will choose rather to leave His people. In this case we can understand that, now, God is choosing, saving, redeeming, and anointing another people to be His sons and daughters, His bride, and His people. Look at the deeds and consequences of God’s love, opposed to the deeds and consequences of God’s hatred. Contrastingly, God’s love is seen in Lev. 26:11-12. When and if God says, “My soul shall abhor you,” then He does to Israel the opposite of what His Covenant of love did formerly accomplish: “And I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savour of the sweet odours. And I will bring the land unto desolation: and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it” (Lev. 26:30-32). God did dwell among them, but now He says – “Woe also to them when I depart from them” (Hos. 9:12)! Again He says, “for the wickedness of their doings I will drive them out of Mine House, I will love them no more,” and again, “there I hated them” (Hos. 9:15). The prophet Hosea proclaims, “My God will cast them away, because they did not hearken unto Him: and they shall be wanderers among the nations” (Hos. 9:17). God’s message of hatred is clear, with all the implications therewith…
“The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved” – Jeremiah 8:20
Therefore this people are hated and unloved because they have expended their “times” of mercy, or as another man of God has phrased it, they “sinned away their day of grace” (Jake Gardner). God said, using the impending birth of the prophet Hosea’s unborn child – "Call her name Loruhamah: for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel; but I will utterly take them away" (Hosea 1:6). A people without mercy are a people without Covenant, Presence, promise, and salvation. Thus with the next child – "Then said God, Call his name Loammi: for ye are not My people, and I will not be your God" (Hosea 1:9). Where there was formerly a Covenant-bound relationship of love and near relation, God was now saying of Israel, "She is not My wife, neither am I her husband: let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts; lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst" (Hosea 2:1-3). As you know, this generation had no chance for Divine repentance in God, but the people did not know this until God revealed it to the prophets. The prophet Jeremiah, as previously noted, sought and wrestled against the Lord for repentance, but God forbade him to even pray for the people, for He said, “I am weary with repenting” (Jer. 15:6). This kind of relationship with God is not commonly understood, preached, or practiced, and though few have a knowledge of this manner of God’s workings – the truth still stands. If we will be saved, it is by the unwearied repentings of God’s mindedness to annihilate us, by the three means of intercession in continuing success along the sojourning of our salvation through time, that even while we are the elect of God (eternally and immutably), and though we be “the righteous,” we are, in this way, “scarcely saved” (1 Peter 4:18)! Observing those of the exodus generation, and others, we cannot say that they were elect according to God’s unchanging will, mind, purpose, counsel, calling, and election that Romans chapter 9 teaches (God in the ways of God). Those that are elect according to the counsel of God in the ways of God, they cannot fall away and will always persevere. Yet…will you understand that this perseverance is by a scarce escape from the lion-like justice of a holy, forbearing, omnipotent God? Truly, many claim to be intercessors by prayer and fervent wrestlings, but what are we interceding against? The only biblical intercession that exists is a standing against the anger of God, but since so many are unaware of this reality – the reality of God’s anger over His people – there is a treacherous lightheartedness toward mercy, perseverance, and salvation! Everyone will make it, right!? It is time that these self-proclaimed intercessors are silenced into trembling over so holy an engagement! Away with them! “Her prophets are light and treacherous persons: her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have done violence to the law” (Zeph. 3:4)! Follow them not, and walk not in their ways! “Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God” (Ecc. 5:2). “Keep thy foot when thou goest into the House of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil” (Ecc. 5:1).