Read Jeremiah 7:1-15
The people followed a worship ritual but maintained a sinful lifestyle. It was religion without personal commitment to God. Attending church, taking communion, teaching Sunday school, singing in the choir, are all empty exercises unless we are truly doing them for God. It is good to do these activities, not because we ought to do them for the church, but because we want to do them for God.
There are several parallels between how the people of Judah viewed their Temple and how many today view their churches. 1) They didn’t make the Temple part of their daily living. We may go to beautiful churches well-prepared for worship, but often we don’t take the presence of God with us through the week. 2) The image of the Temple became more important than the substance of faith. Going to church and belonging to a group can become more important than a life changed for God. 3) The people used the Temple as a sanctuary. Many use religious affiliation as a hideout, thinking it will protect them from evil and problems.
Jesus used the words of verse 11 in the clearing of the Temple (Mark 11; Luke 19). This passage applied to the evil in the Temple in Jesus’ day as well as in Jeremiah’s. God’s Tabernacle had been at Shiloh, but Shiloh had been abandoned (Psalm 78; Jeremiah 26). If God did not preserve Shiloh because the Tabernacle was there, why would He preserve Jerusalem because of the Temple?
God sent Jeremiah to the Temple gates to refute the false belief that God would not let harm come to the Temple or to those who lived near it. Jeremiah rebuked the people for their false and worthless religion, their idolatry, and the shameless behavior of the people and their leaders. Jeremiah said Judah was ripe for judgment and exile. This happened during the reign of Jehoiakim, a puppet king of Egypt. The nation, in shock over the death of Josiah, was going through a spiritual reversal that removed much of the good Josiah had done. Jeremiah was almost put to death for this sermon, but he was saved by the officials of Judah.