God is pulling out the dreaded, "Linen Belt" illustration now. He's told them that lions and terrors from the north are coming, a day of calamity and so forth. Now he goes easy on them, a linen belt. How's that going to win hearts and minds?

God sends Jeremiah on field trip number 1. Tomorrow is the trip to the potters house, but today its down to Perath. But today we are into linen loincloths. Let's jump ahead for the punchline. Go down to verse 11 and you'll see it.

¹¹ For as a belt is bound around a man's waist, so I bound the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to me,' declares the LORD, 'to be my people for my renown and praise and honor. But they have not listened.'

Now let's keep this clean if we can. I know we can talk about underwear and stinky and all those things that make you want to avoid this discussion. I mean, does God really want to compare Himself to underwear? Well, yes, actually He does. Although their underwear was more like basic wear, and they didn't seem to be as hygienic as we are.

But it's fresh linen we are talking about here, something of a holy garment fabric and its a fresh start with the most basic/intimate garment that one could wear. It was to be pure from the start and then intentionally made to rot as Jeremiah placed it into the elements near a river where it would waste away and become useless.

We are unsure of where Perath is but it generally means the river Euphrates, a long trip from southern Israel. But where ever it is, the symbol remains the same. Something good is going rotten. I don't know why we say it sometimes, but something is rotten in Denmark. Ever hear that? Well, something is rotten and useless in Israel and it has to do with the close and intimate relationship that God had with His people.

The priests wore a lot of linen in the performance of their duties. The linen cloth must have absorbed a lot of blood as they offered sacrifices. A lot of death was involved. But life also grew from the death. Holiness was exchanged for sin, right for wrong, good for evil. There was always a transfer available to ever Israelite should they want it. God's holiness was always available to the humble heart.

I think this is the basic exchange that Israel was unwilling to make at this point. By placing the linen in the wilderness, which represents sin itself, Israel is saying it would rather choose rottenness than wholeness or holiness. That choice is still the same today. Holiness is a choice we make when we choose God as the architect of our holiness. The mistake that they made is simple, they did not need to be holy, nor did they need a holy God. The mistake they will make many years later when they are returned from captivity also has to do with holiness. They will come back to Israel to restore it and in the restoration they are convinced that they must be a holy people. As good as that sounds, they went about holiness with out the Holy God once again. They wanted the linen but not the loincloth, at least not a loincloth of God's own making.

The source and maintenance of one's holiness is not self authenticating and can easily deteriorate. Israel found this totally true. The key to lifelong holiness is lifelong connection with God. Without it, all else is rotten in Denmark or  _________. As always, a fresh start is available today.

Jeremiah 13

A Linen Belt

 ¹ This is what the LORD said to me: "Go and buy a linen belt and put it around your waist, but do not let it touch water." ² So I bought a belt, as the LORD directed, and put it around my waist.

 ³ Then the word of the LORD came to me a second time: ⁴ "Take the belt you bought and are wearing around your waist, and go now to Perath ^[a] and hide it there in a crevice in the rocks." ⁵ So I went and hid it at Perath, as the LORD told me.

 ⁶ Many days later the LORD said to me, "Go now to Perath and get the belt I told you to hide there." ⁷ So I went to Perath and dug up the belt and took it from the place where I had hidden it, but now it was ruined and completely useless.

 ⁸ Then the word of the LORD came to me: ⁹ "This is what the LORD says: 'In the same way I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. ¹⁰ These wicked people, who refuse to listen to my words, who follow the stubbornness of their hearts and go after other gods to serve and worship them, will be like this belt—completely useless! ¹¹ For as a belt is bound around a man's waist, so I bound the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to me,' declares the LORD, 'to be my people for my renown and praise and honor. But they have not listened.'

Wineskins

 ¹² "Say to them: 'This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Every wineskin should be filled with wine.' And if they say to you, 'Don't we know that every wineskin should be filled with wine?' ¹³ then tell them, 'This is what the LORD says: I am going to fill with drunkenness all who live in this land, including the kings who sit on David's throne, the priests, the prophets and all those living in Jerusalem. ¹⁴ I will smash them one against the other, fathers and sons alike, declares the LORD. I will allow no pity or mercy or compassion to keep me from destroying them.' "

Threat of Captivity

 ¹⁵ Hear and pay attention,
       do not be arrogant,
       for the LORD has spoken.

 ¹⁶ Give glory to the LORD your God
       before he brings the darkness,
       before your feet stumble
       on the darkening hills.
       You hope for light,
       but he will turn it to thick darkness
       and change it to deep gloom.

 ¹⁷ But if you do not listen,
       I will weep in secret
       because of your pride;
       my eyes will weep bitterly,
       overflowing with tears,
       because the LORD's flock will be taken captive.

 ¹⁸ Say to the king and to the queen mother,
       "Come down from your thrones,
       for your glorious crowns
       will fall from your heads."

 ¹⁹ The cities in the Negev will be shut up,
       and there will be no one to open them.
       All Judah will be carried into exile,
       carried completely away.

 ²⁰ Lift up your eyes and see
       those who are coming from the north.
       Where is the flock that was entrusted to you,
       the sheep of which you boasted?

 ²¹ What will you say when the LORD sets over you
       those you cultivated as your special allies?
       Will not pain grip you
       like that of a woman in labor?

 ²² And if you ask yourself,
       "Why has this happened to me?"—
       it is because of your many sins
       that your skirts have been torn off
       and your body mistreated.

 ²³ Can the Ethiopian ^[b] change his skin
       or the leopard its spots?
       Neither can you do good
       who are accustomed to doing evil.

 ²⁴ "I will scatter you like chaff
       driven by the desert wind.

 ²⁵ This is your lot,
       the portion I have decreed for you,"
       declares the LORD,
       "because you have forgotten me
       and trusted in false gods.

 ²⁶ I will pull up your skirts over your face
       that your shame may be seen-

 ²⁷ your adulteries and lustful neighings,
       your shameless prostitution!
       I have seen your detestable acts
       on the hills and in the fields.
       Woe to you, O Jerusalem!
       How long will you be unclean?"