Honour, Disgrace, Restoration
An Exposition of Jeremiah 13:1-11

By David Court

Reprinted from The Banner of Truth Magazine

August / September 2022 Issue #707-708

I met him in the south of Italy; Sicily, to be precise. His name was Frank. He came originally from the USA. He was a vagrant, used to sleeping rough. He dressed in dishevelled attire, carried a knapsack on his back
and bore a large staff in his right hand. He resembled an Old Testament prophet. But Frank was an interesting man with an interesting history. At one time a multi-millionaire, he had owned a penthouse flat in a salubrious part of Rome, drove a Ferrari and enjoyed a lifestyle of incredible luxury and great riches. But through bad company, gambling, and eventually drug addiction he had come to lose everything. Now he was just an itinerant tramp, wandering the countryside dressed in rags.

We are all familiar enough with the archetypal rags-to-riches story, but sometimes it happens the other way round. Frank’s was a ‘riches to rags’ story. Here in Jeremiah 13, we are introduced to another ‘riches to rags’ story. It is not the story of one individual—it is the story of a church. The church in question is the church of the Old Testament, the covenant people of God. It is the story of a tragic fall from grace.

Our story is found in the prophecy of Jeremiah, a prophet called to deliver a most unwelcome and uncompromising message to the church of his own day. It is a message that stands as both a warning and perhaps even an encouragement to us today, for here is the story of a church that travelled that tragic route from riches to rags.

1. The church’s honour
‘Thus says the Lord to me, “Go and buy a linen loincloth and put it around your waist, and do not dip it in water.” So, I bought a loincloth according to the word of the Lord, and put it around my waist…’ (Jer. 13:1-2).

The story centres on what the ESV calls a ‘linen loincloth’. The word used in Hebrew, however, is an ambiguous term. Apparently, it could refer to either an outer or under garment. This is why different translators come up with different words or ideas to describe what is meant here. The King James Version uses the word ‘girdle’. Other translators refer to it as a waistband or a sash or a belt.

I think the most likely idea here is of a belt or waistband. The picture is of a beautiful and ornate linen belt. Linen was in those days a luxury material reserved for priests or for royalty. So, what we have here is Jeremiah being called to purchase and wear around his waist a brand new and resplendent belt, an item not only of great worth but also of great beauty. Perhaps it was a richly and ornately embroidered belt. The kind of garment fit for a king.

Jeremiah is called not only to buy this belt but also to wear it around his waist. This belt is to be seen, to be noticed, to be admired. This beautiful belt is designed to draw attention to itself. Jeremiah is told not to get it wet. It is to be kept in the best condition.

This belt is of course a symbol of the church. It is a picture of God’s covenant people. As Jeremiah is called to buy and wear the belt around his waist, so Israel has been chosen by God to be bound close to himself. ‘For as the loincloth clings to the waist of a man, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, declares the Lord, that they might be for me a people, a name, a praise, and a glory, but they would not listen’ (Jer. 13:11).

The word used for ‘cling’ here is the same word that is used in Genesis 2:24, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.’ Some translations use ‘cleave’, others ‘unite’; the idea is of two people being glued to each other. It is the same idea here. It is an expression of intense intimacy and union. The image is of God himself wearing his people as a name, a praise and a glory. Here are a people designed to be literally stuck on God.

So, in Deuteronomy 26:19 we read these words: ‘And the Lord has declared today that you are a people for his treasured possession, as he has promised you, and that you are to keep all his commandments, and that he will set you in praise and in fame and in honour high above all nations that he has made, and that you shall be a people holy to the Lord your God, as he promised.’

Israel was chosen and bought and worn by God himself like a beautiful belt. Their destiny was to give and receive glory and honour. They were to be as a glorious royal garment. It is a wonderful picture of the church of God—for God—a people, a name, a praise and a glory.

So, what we are being reminded of here is the honour and dignity of the church. In the world’s eyes the church may be something small and insignificant and hardly worth mentioning, but in God’s eyes the church is special. We are his people—the people that Christ died for. The people he broke his body for. The people he shed his blood for. We are his treasured possession. We have been created to be close to God, to cling to him in faith and dependence.

The New Testament tells us in so many places of the honour that is ours as part of Christ’s body the church. We are the bride of Christ. We are the temple in which God lives by his Spirit. We are the building that God is constructing in the midst of enemy-occupied territory. In the church of Jesus Christ, we are to be awash in honour not because we are anything in ourselves but because of what God has made us. We belong to him. We are his possession. So that long after this material world has crumbled,
long after the things that people honour and value in this world have vanished, the church of God will remain. ‘Solid joys and lasting treasures none but Zion’s children know.’

Paul writes: ‘Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendour, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish’ (Eph. 5:25-27). The church is God’s instrument in the world for his praise and honour and glory. The church is important to God. Her purity is important, her faithfulness, her love, her devotion. To be part of the church of God is no small thing. It is to be part of that community that is bound closely to the living God. We are to be a bright linen belt, wrapped around the Lord like an embrace; wrapped around God’s waist, adorning him with glory and honour.

I wonder if we know anything of that great privilege of being bound to Christ and through Christ bound to the Triune God. A people perhaps dishonoured by the world but honoured by God—honoured with electing love; honoured with the eternal Word; honoured with divine forgiveness; honoured with the indwelling Spirit; honoured with hope of heaven—a people rich in honour and grace.

But tragically Jeremiah’s story is a story of riches to rags, and this brings us to our second point.

2. The church’s disgrace
‘And the word of the Lord came to me a second time,“Take the loincloth that you have bought, which is around your waist, and arise, go to the Euphrates and hide it there in a cleft of the rock.” So, I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the Lord commanded me. And after many days the Lord said to me, “Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take from there the loincloth that I commanded you to hide there.” Then I went to the Euphrates, and dug, and I took the loincloth from the place where I had hidden it. And behold, the loincloth was spoiled; it was good for nothing’ (Jer. 13:3-7).

Jeremiah’s prophetic words and actions are in effect a terrifying warning. Here is a great and terrible danger for the people of God. For it transpires that this beautiful belt is soon spoiled and ruined. It is a picture of disgrace and dishonour. There are three things we notice about this disgrace.

First of all, it involves disloyalty. Jeremiah is commanded first of all to remove the belt and to hide it in the cleft of a rock near the great river Euphrates. This was a two- or three-month journey of over three hundred miles and was symbolic, I think, not so much of the coming exile but of Israel’s flirtation
with foreign powers and alliances. Just as the belt is removed and taken far away to Babylon, so Israel had exchanged her close bond with the Lord for a commitment to far-off heathen power. This policy of looking elsewhere for help, to the powers of Assyria and Babylon and to their gods rather than to
the Lord, was a policy pursued relentlessly by Israel right throughout the Old Testament. It was one doomed to bring disaster and disgrace.

Whenever the church of God looks elsewhere rather than to the Lord for its help, it betrays its very raison d’être. Where does my help come from? The psalmist gives us the answer: My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. Whenever we pledge and commit ourselves to the idols of our surrounding culture, whenever we seek our security and satisfaction in other things, we dishonour God. The truth of God is exchanged for a lie. There is disloyalty as devotion to the Lord is sacrificed on the altar of political and cultural expediency. Make no mistake, this danger of disloyalty is one that presents itself in every generation.

Secondly, it brings ruin. The belt that is buried in a foreign land is then some time later dug up. It is however no longer something beautiful and resplendent and glorious. Instead, rot and mildew have set in and its fibres have become rotted and perished. It has become something worthless and no longer fit for purpose. It is good for nothing. For disloyalty inevitably brings ruin upon the church of God. The richly adorned belt had become nothing but a useless rag.

Make no mistake—when we abandon the Lord and set our hearts on other things, we are on the road to ruin. It is true of individuals and it is true of churches and it is true of denominations. Tragically, this is precisely the road that many mainline denominations in the West have chosen to tread—great churches, whose influence for good and for God has been felt across the globe; churches with once glorious histories and heritage, which now resemble little more than a perished belt. Many of them are on the road—or maybe that should be the trajectory—to rack and ruin, their spiritual fibre all but rotted away.

When churches turn from God and become unfaithful and disobedient; when churches mock the word of God and deride its authority; when churches contradict the Bible’s moral standards and embrace perversion; then it should be no surprise when the very fabric of such churches simply disintegrates and they become good for nothing. They are rendered no longer fit for the purpose of taking the gospel to the nations they are called to serve.

Thirdly, it is marked by rebellion. How did this terrible thing happen? How could such a thing come about? The cause of this disgrace and this disloyalty and ruin is revealed in verses 8-10:

Then the word of the Lord came to me: “Thus says the Lord: Even so will I spoil the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who stubbornly follow their own heart and have gone after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be like this loincloth, which is good for nothing.’

The key reason was their shocking refusal to hear and to heed the word of God. They simply would not listen to God’s word. This was the critical issue then and it remains so today. Are we going to listen to God’s word or are we going to listen to other voices?

Think of the story of the Fall. Human beings are made in the image of God, fearfully and wonderfully made, the very pinnacle of God’s creation, made for God to be for him a name and a praise and a glory. Yet there is rebellion and disloyalty and disgrace as they listen to another’s voice and question, and set aside the word of God. The whole human race is set on the road to ruin. Noble creatures made for worship and glory are now reduced to grovelling in the dirt.

Do you recall the parable of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31? Do you remember the punchline to that story of Jesus? ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if
someone rises from the dead’ (Luke 16:31). What Jesus says is that we seal our destiny by our response to the Scriptures. It was ever thus. It is true for individuals and it is true for churches. Just think of those letters to the churches in Revelation 2 and 3.

Who are we listening to? Whose word are we heeding? Are we listening to the word of God? If all we are listening to are the voices of popular culture and media, then it will not be long before we are being catapulted down a very dangerous route. For if we listen to the wrong voices then we will soon travel the path of rebellion, disloyalty and ruin. It is a path that ends only in disgrace. It is to travel from riches to rags.

I came across these words of David Wells in his book No Place for Truth:

Where is the focus of God’s truth to be found? To the pagan who heard the voice of the gods within, who listened to the whisperings of intuition, and to the modern who similarly listens within for the voice of self, the answer is the same. For the Israelite it was different. The Bible is not a remarkable illustration of what we have already heard within ourselves; it is a remarkable discovery of what we have not and cannot hear within ourselves…

We need to listen to that word that comes from outside ourselves; to the voice of our Creator; to the one who stands above us and beyond us. You see, the great danger today is that many churches are guilty of putting themselves in the place of the Bible and reasserting the old paganism of the past. In those famous words intoned at the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland some years ago—‘We know better than the Bible.’ That is virtually the motto of so much contemporary Christianity; it has simply exchanged the truth of God for a lie.

This is precisely the route being taken by many churches in the West. It is the way of disgrace. It is the road of disloyalty, ruin and rebellion. It is the path of that old paganism from which our forebears were once delivered by the gospel of Jesus Christ.

But here in Jeremiah, this disgrace and dishonour is thankfully not the end of the story. For though a time of exile loomed ahead for the people of God, though there was at present disloyalty and disgrace, yet even so God still had plans for a future for his people. He is the God who will never let his people go. By God’s grace, riches to rags is not, and never can be, the end of the story.

3. The church’s restoration
Even though the church’s disgrace will ultimately lead to exile in Babylon, there is still hope lying beyond. Later on in his prophecy Jeremiah is given these words:

For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfil to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile (Jer. 29:10-14).

What an amazing promise. The God who will bring ruin and disaster upon his faithless people will one day restore honour and glory. Today in the Western world we can survey in almost every community the
broken-down wreckage of once great churches—churches that once thronged with worshippers; churches that faithfully proclaimed the gospel; churches that knew the blessing of God. How we need to remember that the God who brings judgment is also the God who brings restoration
and recovery and revival.

How tempting it is to become depressed when tragedy and betrayal happens. But we must not despair, for we worship a God who promises to give us a future and a hope. He is the living God who is tied to his covenant people wherever they may be.

The Anglican preacher Dick Lucas tells the story of how in 1952 he entered a railway carriage with a man whom it transpired had been a missionary in China. The man told him of how all the missionaries had been kicked out of that great land. He told him of how he was not allowed back to preach the gospel there. Dick Lucas tried to sympathize and commiserate with the man and his predicament by saying how terrible it all was. What a tragedy that all that wonderful work was brought to an end. In response, however, the man gave him a stern rebuke. He was told in no uncertain terms that if God was in it, then it could only be for blessing. Dick Lucas says he went away thinking that the man was talking through a hole in his head.

Yet that man was proved right in the years that lay ahead, for when the bamboo curtain was finally lifted, what was found lying behind was a vibrant and vigorous Chinese church under indigenous Chinese leadership.

There are estimated today to be over 150 million Christians there, and that number is growing fast. Out of apparent ruin and destruction God begins a new thing that is far greater than what existed before. Isn’t that encouraging? Perhaps in the midst of the brokenness and disgrace of our age and generation, God will do a new thing—from riches to rags to riches again.

The gospel reminds us of one whom, though he was rich, yet for our sakes became poor; one who exchanged his riches for our rags; one who was made sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Cor. 5:21). The cross is the greatest riches-to-rags story ever told. Luther wrote: ‘Learn Christ and him crucified. Learn to pray to him despairing of yourself, saying: You, Lord Jesus, are my righteousness and I am your sin. You have taken on yourself what you were not, and have given to me what I am not.’

His riches for my rags; his wealth for my poverty; his loyalty for my betrayal; his life for my ruin. In the last book of the Bible, we read of the marriage supper of the Lamb. There we read of the church of God restored, renewed and glorified. The bride of Christ made ready. The stained and defaced garments of disloyalty and disgrace are now laid aside and new garments are worn—garments of fine linen, bright and pure.

Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure—for the fine linen isthe righteous deeds of the saints’ (Rev. 19:6-8).

The belt is clean and glorious again and found glued to the living God. And so, let us resolve to stay close to the One who has pledged himself to clean us up and make us again a people for his own honour and renown— a people, a name, a praise and a glory.

Restore, O Lord
In all the earth Your fame
And in our time revive
The church that bears Your Name
In Your anger
Lord, remember mercy
O living God
Whose mercy shall outlast the years.