The Pulpit Commentary — Jeremiah — Volume 1 — Section 102

But he never makes a full end. False hope and trust ha.ve to go, but trust tha.t is true, hope that is of God, come under the law of his reserve of mercy-they are the spared remnant, and whilst an end is made of all the rest, these survive. 5. And what will death itself be but our last experience of this law? Heart and 6esh shall fail, the outward man shall perish, there shall be an end made of all that belongs to tl,i~ world so far as we are concerned, and the place that has known us here shall know us no more for ever. Bnt whilst it will be an end, so much so that our bodies shall return, "earth to earth, dust to dust, ashes to ashes,n still it will not be" a full end." We-the true self-shall still remain; though the body go back to its earth, "the spirit shall return unto God who gave it." Yes, the law of the text is seen everywhere. It is a principle of the Divine procedure that is in perpetual operation; it was brought to bear upon Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Jeremiah, and it bears upon nations, Churches, families, individuals, men, whenever God sees that the time has come for its application. But- II. IT IS A PRU!ClPLE THAT PROMPTS INQUIRY AS TO ITS REASON AND INTENT. This making an end, even though it be not a full end, has much about it that may well, if not perplex, yet give rise to earnest, thoughtful inquiry on the part of him who observes it. Without question, it is often a severe law, a principle prolific in pain. It was so in the case of those to whom Jeremiah wrote. "The righteous scarcely were saved," but "the ungodly and the sinners," who formed the vast maj01ity, were not saved at all. Yes, though God made not a full end, the end he did make was terrible indeed. Now, we know it is not possible for us so to understand all the ways of God that we may fully rise to- "The height of this high argument, And justify the ways of God to men." But tbis much we may sa.y: the surgeon's knife that cuts away the poisoned flesh in order to save life is a severe operation, yet one that even he who writhes beneath it will conse11t to and be thankful for. The burning houses that cannot be saved are allowed to burn on, and men's efforts are all turned towards the saving of those that are yet untouched. If Israel was to be preserved faithful as the keeper of the oracles of God-and, humanly ~peaking, the welfare of the whole world depended upon her fidelity in this matter-then the cankered 'portion of her people must be cut off, that the rest, yet in health, might continue so. "Our God is a consuming fire." His judgments will, must, burn on until all that is rotten and unsound has perished from the way. The dread doom of the world to come is described by a word that tells of the action of the surgeon's knife, or of the vine-dresser's pruning implements, which are used to cut away that which is evil or worthless, that that which is healthful may be preserved, strengthened, and developed according to the will of God. Yes, it is tlreadful when God comes forth to make an end of wickedness and the wicked; but it would be more dreadful still- the whole history of mankind l\ttests it-if he did uot. nut it is a work from which he shrinks. "As I live, saith the Lord "-and can we dare, or would we wish, to disbelieve him f-" I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but rather that he should turn from his wickedness and live." "Why will ye clie, 0 ye house oflsrael?" And we may say more than this. In the repetition of our text, which we have in the tenth verse of the next chapter, we see another purpose designed by these terrible dealings of God with his people. They were gettin:z behi11<.l •• battlements," trusting in defences and safeguards which were of no avail; withdraw- Jng their confidence from God, who had never failed them, to place it in those professed protectors who would always fail them, even as they had ever done. Hence 0110 pur- pose of the stern process through which Judah and Jerusalem had to pass was th(, taking away of those" battlements" which were" not the Lord's." Their looking to the rulers of other nations, the gods of other nations, or to such poor material resources as they could themselves supply, was fatal to that reliance on the Lord God which had been their distinguishin" feature in their happiest and most glorious days. But it was essential to the fulfilment of God's purposes in regard to them that this reliance upon God should by any means be restored. Therefore it was necessary that God should make an end of and destrov these "battlements," taking them utterly away. And in pursuance of this _same mnin ·acsign, God would. set the faithful amongst them free to live a new, a happier, JEREMI.\B, B  TIIE DOOK OF 'l'HE PROPHE'l' JEHEJl:IIAll. [cu. iv.1-31.