10 “Go up through her vine rows and destroy,
But do not execute a complete destruction;
Strip away her branches,
For they are not the Lord’s.
11 “For the house of Israel and the house of Judah
Have dealt very treacherously with Me,” declares the Lord.
12 They have lied about the Lord
And said, “[e]Not He;
Misfortune will not come on us,
And we will not see sword or famine.
13 “The prophets are as wind,
And the word is not in them.
Thus it will be done to them!”Judgment Proclaimed
14 Therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of hosts,
“Because you have spoken this word,
Behold, I am making My words in your mouth fire
And this people wood, and it will consume them.
15 “Behold, I am bringing a nation against you from afar, O house of Israel,” declares the Lord.
“It is an enduring nation,
It is an ancient nation,
A nation whose language you do not know,
Nor can you understand what they say.
16 “Their quiver is like an open grave,
All of them are mighty men.
17 “They will devour your harvest and your food;
They will devour your sons and your daughters;
They will devour your flocks and your herds;
They will devour your vines and your fig trees;
They will demolish with the sword your fortified cities in which you trust.18 “Yet even in those days,” declares the Lord, “I will not make you a complete destruction. 19 It shall come about when [f]they say, ‘Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us?’ then you shall say to them, ‘As you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your land, so you will serve strangers in a land that is not yours.’
As we read about the sins of Israel and the coming judgment, it might be tempting to think that perhaps they just didn’t know better. Perhaps they were ignorant of the law, like Josiah had been until the book of the law was discovered in the temple cleanup/restoration. Maybe they really didn’t know, but the fact of the matter is that they weren’t trying very hard to find out either.
We see from the prophetic writings that there had been generations of prophets telling them they were going the wrong way. God states it emphatically here then in v. 12, “They have lied about the Lord…” Further, they willfully ignored those prophets, and persecuted many of them. The language in v. 13 is pretty vague when it speaks of how Israel regarded the prophets, “Thus it will be done to them!”
I’m pretty certain they didn’t mean anything very nice or pleasant, but that was the least of their worries. When Josiah finally heard what God expected of them, he literally tore his clothes, and said (in part), “for great is the wrath of the Lord that burns against us…” Yet, that isn’t the end of the story!
Somehow, after all of this, even flat out lying about God, there is still hope. Not that they would avoid the coming judgment, but in vv. 10 and 18 God says it will not be a complete destruction. They wouldn’t know exactly what that would look like, but we can see it in the records of Ezra and Nehemiah. Many would be carried into captivity, but they would return one day to the land that God gave them.
As great as the wrath of God would be, greater still was His love and compassion. Indeed, it was because of this that there would be any judgment at all. If God didn’t love them (and all of us), He could have just abandoned them to their own ways. But He didn’t, and He doesn’t abandon us, even when we have done truly terrible things.
We see this clearly with the criminal who was crucified next to Jesus. That wasn’t a punishment Romans handed out for petty crimes. I mean, look how hard the Jewish leaders had to push to get Jesus executed. Yet when faced with the Messiah, the Savior of the world–even though Jesus was disfigured and hanging on a cross–the thief was moved and compelled to ask for mercy. And miraculously, he got it, as Jesus told him, “This day you will be with me in paradise.”
No one is too far gone for God to rescue. That is, if you’re reading this, and asking the question, “Can God really forgive me?”, then the answer is “yes”. We see very obviously in this passage that God takes sin seriously, and yet His offer of forgiveness is even more serious. So much that God sent His very Son to take our place and be our ransom.
It is a call for all of us, to once more “approach the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Heb. 4:16) I know I need God’s grace, and He is ready and waiting for you too. Don’t hold back any more, afraid or fearful, find rest and hope in the One who paid it all for your sake.