This chapter emphasizes the call for clear separation from religious and carnal evil, drawing parallels between ancient Judah and contemporary Christendom. It highlights the rejection of God's appeals by the masses and the dangers of false prophets who offer superficial peace. The text concludes by urging individuals to return to "the old paths" and "that which was from the beginning," warning that refusal to do so will result in divine judgment.
To those entangled with religious corruption in our day the word is,
Let everyone that nameth the name of the Lord depart from iniquity (2 Timothy 2:19).Come out from among them, and be ye separate. . . touch not the unclean thing (2 Corinthians 6:17). Later, to dwellers in the spiritual Babylon, the cry will go forth,Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues (Revelation 18:4).
The present is no time for temporizing.
He who has saved us, and is Lord of all, looks for clear-cut separation from all spiritual or ecclesiastical as well as carnal or fleshly evil, in sanctification to Himself. To Christendom as a whole, as to Judah then, there is little use to make appeals, nor does the Lord do it.
Their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word of the Lord is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it (Jeremiah 6:10). So it has often been noted that after the days of Pergamos, in Revelation 2:0 and 3, the call is alone to the overcomer -not to the mass.
What made things all the more dreadful in Jeremiah's time was the mockery of the false prophets, who stilled the fears of the guilty people and prophesied smooth things, thus turning aside the keen edge of the truth. Love of reward was at the bottom of their course. Can any be so charged today?
From the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest everyone dealeth falsely. They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of My people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace (Jeremiah 6:13-14). So also in Ezekiel's day (Ezekiel 13:10-12), which was nearly contemporaneous with this.
But the truth rejected did not alter its character.
They would have to learn by judgment what they had no ears for by the word of the prophet. Meantime the call to any individual having a heart for GOD goes out; but there is no response.
Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein. Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken (Jeremiah 6:16-17).
It is to "that which was from the beginning" (1 John 1:1) GOD ever directs His people in times of failure. Man is continually running after something new, and thus away from GOD, for He is of old, from everlasting. Evolution there is none in the truth for the dispensation. It is always evil to turn from it. There is no restoration apart from turning back to it. There is no room for development outside the Book.
The message rejected, the nations are called on to acknowledge the justness of the Lord's dealings with so rebellious a people (Jeremiah 6:18-21), and the chapter closes with the judgment reaffirmed:
Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the Lord hath rejected them. (Jeremiah 6:30)