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"They have sown wheat but reaped thorns"

Text: Jeremiah 12:13

THE WICKEDNESS OF THE PEOPLE EXPOSED

The children of Judah had practised deceit for the longest time. They had offered worship to God but at the same time, they had also offered worship to idols. Their hearts were full of guile and treachery. Their wickedness would be exposed.

“The plunderers have come
On all the desolate heights in the wilderness,
For the sword of the LORD shall devour
From one end of the land to the other end of the land;
No flesh shall have peace.
They have sown wheat but reaped thorns;
They have put themselves to pain but do not profit.
But be ashamed of your harvest
Because of the fierce anger of the LORD.”
Jeremiah 12:12-13

1. “The plunderers have come on all the desolate heights in the wilderness”

a) “The plunderers”

These were the Babylonian invaders.

b) They would conquer the entire country.

c) They would occupy even the desolate heights in the wilderness.

i) These desolate areas would not be a place of refuge for the people.

ii) There would be no safe place to hide in.

2. “For the sword of the LORD shall devour from one end of the land to the other end of the land; no flesh shall have peace”

a) The sword of the Babylonians would bring destruction.

b) But their sword was in fact “the sword of the LORD”.

i) “From one end of the land to the other end”

The sword would devour.

ii) No flesh would find peace anywhere in the land.

iii) The children of Judah would be expelled from their homeland.

iv) The reality was that it was God’s land and they would be evicted!

3. “They have sown wheat but reaped thorns”

a) The imagery of “wheat” and “thorns”.

b) The children of Judah thought that they had sown wheat and thus, they would reap wheat.

c) In reality, they had not sown wheat.

d) They had sown thorns and would reap thorns.

4. “They have put themselves to pain but do not profit”

a) They had worked hard, painfully hard.

b) But they did not profit.

c) How had they worked hard?

i) Through deceit.

ii) Through treachery.

d) These devious plans would never be blessed by God.

5. “But be ashamed of your harvest because of the fierce anger of the LORD”

a) The harvest that was reaped was disastrous.

i) Literal harvest

There was hardly anything to harvest.

ii) Figurative harvest

A shameful harvest!

b) “The fierce anger of the LORD”

i) It had fallen on the land and on the children of Judah.

ii) This anger would not be turned aside this time round.

iii) No amount of intercession would change God’s judgment.