Blow the Trumpet in the Land

5 Declare in Judah, and proclaim in Jerusalem, and say,
                        “Blow the trumpet through the land;
cry aloud and say,
                        ‘Assemble, and let us go
into the fortified cities!’
            6           Raise a standard toward Zion,
flee for safety, stay not,
                        for I bring disaster from the north,
and great destruction.
            7           A lion has gone up from his thicket,
a destroyer of nations has set out;
he has gone out from his place
                        to make your land a waste;
your cities will be ruins
without inhabitant.
            8           For this put on sackcloth,
lament and wail,
                        for the fierce anger of the Lord
has not turned back from us.”
Jeremiah 4:5-8
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Blow the Trumpet in the Land
Jeremiah sounds an alarm. The trumpet is blown. The people are told to flee. Disaster comes from the north because Judah has refused to repent. This is no random catastrophe but the Lord’s righteous judgment against persistent idolatry. The lion has come up from his thicket. The destroyer advances. Sin is not harmless; it invites real consequences. Yet even in this warning, we hear mercy. The alarm itself is grace. The Lord sends His prophet so the people might not be caught unaware. He wounds in order to heal. He exposes sin so that sinners might repent. We, too, deserve the advancing judgment. Our idols may look more respectable, but they are no less deadly. Therefore the trumpet still sounds in the preaching of the Law. But for those who flee, not to fortified cities, but to Christ, there is refuge. On the cross, the Lion of Judah bore the judgment we deserved. In Him, the alarm becomes salvation.