Jeremiah 2:1-3:1: The Beauty of Apparell

I really don't wear jewelry or fancy clothes very much at all. I remember last Christmas my mom got me a new watch, and I'm pretty sure that it's collecting dust in my room somewhere. (sorry Ma). But at the same time i do notice when a woman wheres a beautiful necklace or some fancy bracelets. It just makes her look better. Think about a bride on her wedding day. There's a sense of shock when the groom looks at his bride for the first time in her dress. She looks more beautiful than she ever had in her life most likely. He is stunned at the sight of her. Apperal and jewelry just makes he look different, more beautiful. It is not her, but it is what she is wearing. All of her flaws are lost in the beauty of her dress, her hair, her jewelry. All her faults that he might have noticed in their engagement are gone. Thats the beauty of apparell...

I was reading Jeremiah 2 verse 1 through chapter 3 verse 1 the other day, and during the time that Jeremiah was writing his book, the nation of Judah was in deep idolatry. And most people think of idolatry as worshipping a graven image or making violent sacrifices to this object. And in the time of Jeremiah, that was exactly what they were doing.

The Pattern of Idolatry
But nowadays people don't much think about idolatry. I was reading a book one time about this very subject. The author, Nick Ellen, described an idol as an avenue. And the end result, or the destination is a desire that so grips you in your life that you feel you need it. Let's take biblical times for an example. The nation of Judah was for the most part worshipping the god Baal, which was the god of fertility. In fact every god that was worshipped was the representative of something. So they would worship this god and expect to become...fertile right?
Well we are no different nowadays. We don't carve out wooden images of gods, but we all bow down to something. And most of the time in today's society this something (i.e. food, money, success, friends, acceptance, prestige etc.) gives us significance, a meaning to life, or better yet, an identity. We worship food, business success, money, sex, etc because it gives us significance, a reason to be alive. This was true back of OT times and it's true today.
Well in chapter 2 of Jeremiah, God calls out to Judah and accuses her of idolatry. Bowing down to something that they think will give them significance or value. In fact he likens their idolatry to adultery. In verse two of chapter two (2:2) God likens Judah to a young bride gone astray saying,
"I remember concerning you the devotion of your youth, the love of your betrothals, your following after me in the wilderness, through a land not sown. Israel was holy to the Lord, the first of His harvest..."
But then in verse 5 (2:5) he cries out saying.
"What injustice did your fathers find in Me, that they went far from Me and walked after emptiness and became empty?"
This accusation goes on for a few chapters, and in chapter 3 God compares Judah in her idolatry to a wild untamed animal (2:20a), a harlot (2:20b), an un-washable stain (2:22), an animal in heat(2:23b; 24), and a caught and embarrased theif (2:26). They had run far away from their God, the God that brought them out of Egypt! Finally Judah sees her harlotry, but is convinced of her guilt and condemnation and says in 2:25b,
"It is hopeless! No! For I have loved strangers, and after them I will walk."

The Seeming Hopelessness of Guilt
When we see the sin that we walk in it is easy to feel that way. Despair can set in. An easy indicator that we are walking after idols in our own life is depression. I know this first hand, and if you have walked with Christ for any amount of time in your life you know exactly what I'm talking about.
We find that we are walking towards something in our life that is hopeful, that will workout, and then something falls through, or something messes up, and then depression sets in. If we are able to think through the "why" of our depression we will find that it is a sinful hope, a hope that is placed in the things of this world. Let's take the classic example: the break-up. You've been going out with this girl for 6 months now, and one day she calls you up and says, "I think that I just want to be friends". This devistates you. You stop your daily devotions, you stop praying as much as you had, and you feel all around lonely. Lets take another route. You have a job that you love, and you are making a great amount of money, you are moving up in the company, and people tend to love you and your work ethic. You invest all your time, even your hours off the job in different projects to move up and up in your company. Then, a sponteneous slew of events cause the company to go under and you're left without a job...BOOM. You feel useless, without a meaning in life, and you are devistated. These are just a couple examples of modern day idols. And when they stop bringing that significance that you so desire, bring only depression and guilt. Depression is a great sign that you've chased after, as God says, "emptiness and became empty".
It seems almost impossible to get out of those low spots in our walk with Christ. It's really hard, but it's very possible.

The Beauty of Apparell
When Judah had realized her guilt concerning her idolatry, she felt there was no hope, for how could God's bride, after such a resume of adultery get right with Him? They, as many people in today's society, believe that when they chase after vain things, they have to grit their teeth and get back on track. Well, that is very hard to do to a God that is eternal and is perfect in every way. But the funny thing is that God almost gets frustrated with their hopelessness. Sometimes a pious reply to sin is the worst reply in God's eyes. Why is that? As a Christian you become someone totally different in God's eyes, that's why. Wrath is no longer an option between you and God, and Judah had forgotten the Exodus, when God purchased Israel as His bride. They had an identity crisis. They forgot that they were a nation that belonged to God. A nation that was waiting for their Messiah, for their King. God wanted to remind them of who they were. He reminds them in several ways, starting in verse 29 or chapter two (2:29). He told them that he attempted to chasten them as a father would a child (2:30), and tried to guide them as a father would his son (2:31), but they would not appropriate themselves in that way to Him. Then God says something incredible, something so crucial to the life of His people. He says in verse 32 of chapter 2 (2:32),
"Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet My people have forgotten Me..."
Did you catch it? As we talked about at the beginning, when the groom sees his bride, all of her flaws, her faults, wrinkles, scars, cuts, bruises, whatever it may be, are covered by the beauty of her dress and attire. God tells Judah, "YOU'VE FORGOTTEN YOUR WEDDING DRESS!", and better yet, He tells them that HE is their wedding dress. He is the covering of her faults, flaws, cuts, scars, etc. He reminds them that nothing that they do or seek after gives them the identity, the significance, the flawlessness that they so desire. Only God can give them that. God is their covering, God is their significance, their identity. The nation of Judah was so fixed on working their way back to God, when the way they were to get back to God was through putting Him on like a wedding dress. Now some of you may say, that's just weird, what does that even mean?

From Identity Crisis to the Putting on of Righteousness
If you the New Testament epistles, you will find Paul saying alot in his epistles to put on your new self. In Ephesians 4:24, Paul says,
"put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness and truth..."
What is he saying? He's saying that we have a new identity. He's saying that we, the church, are the bride of God. Paul explains this more in 2 Corinthians 5:21 saying,
"He made Him [Christ] to be sin who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God"
What does this mean? It means that when we became Christians, our significance, our value, our whole entire identity changed from being worthless sinners to being the bride of Christ, and a child of God. So, in Jeremiah, this is an incredible forshadowing of the grace to come through Christ. God is saying, stop seeking after vain things! Confess your sin, and be found in My righteousness, in My perfection, for in that is found significance and value, and true identity, a grace identity.

Putting on the Beautiful Apparell
So, there are two things that we learn.
1) Don't place too much hope in anything that is found in this world, but hope in who you are in Christ. This hope is kept through reading God's word regularly, through prayer, and through meaningful, deep fellowship.
2) When we fall into what Jeremiah calls idolatry, don't despair, but remind yourself of who you are and appropriate your actions according to who you are. What does that mean you might say? When you find that you are placing your meaning of life in the things of this world, pray and confess you sins to God, and rely on the fact that God has already forgiven you of that because of Christ's death and resurrection, and then walk in that truth. Don't beat yourself up about it, and don't even think about what you did, but rather walk away from that and rejoice that you are a child of God. This is grace identity...