What does God want His people to do?

God wants people to stop sinning and turn back to Him.

 

The people of Judah had forgotten God’s Word. Jehoiakim was king, and “He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight just as his ancestors had done” (2 Kings 23:37). The people of Judah were facing God’s judgment for their sin.

God told Jeremiah to write on a scroll all the words God had spoken about Israel, Judah, and all the nations. God was patient. He gave the people a chance to heed a warning and to turn from their sin and be forgiven. Jeremiah’s scribe, Baruch, wrote the words Jeremiah received from God. Then Baruch read the scroll. But the people did not heed the warning. King Jehoiakim’s officials brought Jeremiah’s scribe, Baruch, to the king. Jehoiakim rejected God’s Word, cutting it up and throwing it into the fire.

God told Jeremiah to write another scroll. God said He would punish Jehoiakim for rejecting God’s word about the coming judgment. He would punish Jehoiakim’s descendants too. The disaster God warned about would come to the people who did not listen.

Jeremiah told God’s people that God was displeased, that they needed to stop sinning, and that they should turn back to God and obey His Word. John 1 says that Jesus is the Word. Jesus brought the same message that Jeremiah gave to the people of Judah. Jesus came to live among the people, to explain their need to turn back to God, and to sacrifice His life to make a way for people to turn from sin and to know and love God.