“Warn the nations that he is coming; announce to Jerusalem, ‘Besiegers come from a distant land; they shout against the cities of Judah. Like keepers of a field are they against her all around, because she has rebelled against me, declares the Lord. Your ways and your deeds have brought this upon you. This is your doom, and it is bitter; it has reached your very heart.’” (Jeremiah 4:16–18, ESV)
There is a universal principle in the Scriptures of sowing and reaping. It is an agricultural metaphor, something known by every farmer. A person reaps a harvest according to that which was planted. I understood this from a practical view point when working with my grandmother on her garden. We planted rows of corn, a patch of onions, and some other things. Not so amazing when you think about it, corn seeds sprouted up and became a harvest of corn.
Some of the principles of sowing and reaping are obvious. First, you reap of the same kind as sown. Second, you often reap in a different season from when the seed was sown. Third, you often reap in a multiplication of that which was sown. In the case of corn, we planted in the spring and reaped a harvest in the late summer/fall. Moreover, one corn seed that sprouted produced a stalk with one, maybe two cobs, with each cob producing 750-1000 kernels. Thus, each kernel or seed planted could result in a harvest of 750 to 2000 kernels.
These principles of sowing and reaping would play a role in what was coming upon the Southern Kingdom, Judah. It had already happened to the Northern Kingdom, Israel, as the Assyrian Empire conquered them in 722 BC. The same was coming to Judah via the Babylonian Empire. This is what the Lord revealed to the prophet Jeremiah. The Lord revealed the reason.
‘Besiegers come from a distant land; they shout against the cities of Judah. Like keepers of a field are they against her all around, because she has rebelled against me, declares the Lord. Your ways and your deeds have brought this upon you.
They, the Southern Kingdom Judah, had brought this upon themselves. Why? Because they like the Northern Kingdom they had sowed the seeds of apostasy, idolatry, and moral failure. While Judah had some good kings in their history, they also had bad kings like Manasseh who led the nation into great evils. Moreover, when Jeremiah was a prophet in the nation, Judah continued to follow in the ways of corruption, sowing the seeds thereof. Thus, the time of the harvest of these seeds was on the horizon.
We believers and churches should keep this principle of sowing and reaping on our minds. For we are also subject to the Lord’s discipline. The Scriptures are clear.
“Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.” (Galatians 6:7–8, ESV)
Renewing the Heart 