Hello dear brothers and sisters in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
Today, let’s look at this statement of judgment that God hands down to the children of Israel regarding their state of hypocrisy:
“Behold, the days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “that I will punish all who are circumcised and yet uncircumcised—
— Jeremiah 9:25
The dates of Jeremiah’s ministry, which spanned five decades, are from the Judean king Josiah’s thirteenth year, noted in 1:2 (627 B.C.), to beyond the fall of Jerusalem to Babylon in 586 B.C. The main theme of the prophecy is to warn the nation of the coming judgment as they are about to be sent into exile in Babylon.
The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, to whom the word of Yahweh came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.
— Jeremiah 1:1-2
At this point in the prophecy, we see God really disappointed with the nation of Israel. This chosen people had turned away from God. God calls the nation of Israel adulterers and treacherous men:
Oh that I had in the desert
A travelers’ lodging place,
That I might leave my people
And go from them!
For all of them are adulterers,
A solemn assembly of treacherous men.
— Jeremiah 9:2
Furthermore, He highlights all the things that they have done to provoke Him to anger. He says that they are full of lies and unfaithfulness:
“They bend their tongue like their bow;
Lies and unfaithfulness prevail in the land,
For they go onward from evil to evil,
And they do not know Me,” declares Yahweh.
— Jeremiah 9:3
This statement that God makes here leads to the judgment He declares in today’s verse. God states that not only are the children of Israel bent towards evil, liars, and unfaithful, but they have also grown in evil and do not really know God anymore.
This is far from what God would later demand concerning boasting. He tells them that they should not boast in might, wisdom, or wealth but only that they know God.
Thus says Yahweh, “Let not a wise man boast in his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast in his might; let not a rich man boast in his riches,
— Jeremiah 9:23
It is because of this that God says about them: they are circumcised yet uncircumcised. Because they had turned away from God, because they had decided to do what was right in their own eyes, because they had turned to evil, their judgment was imminent:
I will scatter them among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the sword after them until I have consumed them.
— Jeremiah 9:16
In God’s judgment against Israel, He points out their hypocrisy. While they were unfaithful and acting wickedly, Israel still prided themselves as being a nation chosen by God. They still considered themselves a holy people, a people of God. They leaned heavily on their genealogies, having descended from Abraham, for their salvation.
The reference to circumcision calls back God’s promise to Abraham. As part of the sign of the covenant between God and Abraham, Abraham was supposed to circumcise all the men in his household.
And you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be the sign of the covenant between Me and you.
— Genesis 17:11
This outward circumcision was meant to reflect what was going on in the heart of Abraham. Abraham had believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.
Then he believed in Yahweh; and He counted it to him as righteousness.
— Genesis 15:6
By Jeremiah’s time, the Israelites had flipped this flow. Instead of believing in God in their hearts and having circumcision serve as an outward sign of their faith and devotion to God, they took circumcision as a custom that certified them as righteous before God without actually having faith in Him.
We also see the apostle Paul in the New Testament using a similar argument to indict the Jews regarding their salvation:
For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God.
— Romans 2:28-29
While this may appear as an outdated tradition to our modern times, the circumstances remain the same. We still have people who perform all the rituals as a sign that they have placed their faith in God, yet in their hearts, they do not know God.
In place of circumcision, the kind of rituals we have today include church attendance, tithing and giving offerings, serving in church and certain ministries. These signs sometimes even extend to doing good works around the community, such as helping the poor, orphans, and widows as a gesture that we are good Christians. However, when God looks into our hearts, He sees the same things that were in the hearts of the children of Israel in Jeremiah’s times.
This is what Paul says to Titus: there are people who profess to know God but with their deeds really deny Him:
They profess to know God, but by their works they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and unfit for any good work.
— Titus 1:16
We need to examine our intentions when we do the acts that are supposed to identify us as believers. We need to ensure that our actions on the outside accurately represent what is going on in our hearts. For while man looks at the outward appearance, God looks at the heart of man:
But Yahweh said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but Yahweh looks at the heart.”
— 1 Samuel 16:7
At the end of the verse, God declares His judgment: He will punish all those who are circumcised yet uncircumcised. Meaning, God will punish all those who hold on to the sign and the outward symbol of their conversion while their hearts have not turned away from their sin and towards God. Those who have not truly repented of their sins and placed their faith in Christ.
A display of this judgment for the children of Israel was when they were sent into exile, fulfilling the prophecy. However, there is another judgment for the whole world, for everyone who has lived, who lives now, and who will live. This is the judgment that will come on the great day of the Lord. Let us be ready that on that great day, we will appear blameless before God, covered with the righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Let’s meditate on these questions:
- Why do I do my good works?
- Why do I go to church?
- Why do I show people that I’m a Christian?
Let’s be honest with our purpose for doing what we do. If we are yet uncircumcised, let’s approach Christ’s throne of grace and repent of our sins, lay down our lives, and submit completely to Him. Then our works will be without blemish.
I pray this word reminds us to reconsider why we do what we do.
Blessings to you,
Paul
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