“And all the people were gathered against Jeremiah in the house of the Lord.” (Jeremiah 26:9)

Jeremiah had been called as a young man to prophesy to Judah. On this occasion he had been communicating the word of the Lord concerning Jerusalem’s destruction. To the king, princes, counsellors and people of Judah and Israel it was unthinkable that Jerusalem should be overrun, let alone destroyed. Since their God was the Creator, the God of heaven and earth, the God who had brought them out of Egypt with such great power, they thought it impossible that their holy city should be destroyed. They believed the city and they who dwelt in it were essentially invincible. The relationship that Israel had earlier in its history with God had turned into religion without a relationship.

When Jeremiah reminded the King of Judah and his leaders of their failure to obey God and that God would judge them for it, they didn’t want to hear it. They wanted to hear a fairy tale and not the truth.

People today are no different. Each person knows deep in their being that they will have to give account just as the writer of Hebrews writes, “It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). No one wants to be reminded of this and so they often respond in anger. In some way or other they will try and silence the messenger. They may do this by creating a distance between them such as imprisonment, by killing them, or by finding a way to discredit the messenger or his message. In our day the most common way men deal with the message of the Bible is to appeal to the theory of evolution. However, even this method does not satisfy the one who really looks into the theory. He knows that the theory is impossible so he still needs to silence the messenger.

This is often done by intimidation through false accusation. The other method is to try and brain-wash oneself into thinking evolution is true, contrary to the evidence, and demand that others be taught and believe that it is true. The hypocrisy is that they are manipulating others to accept as true what they know is not and cannot be true. No wonder they get angry when their lie is exposed!

Denying reality was the great error of the King of Judah and his advisors but it did not change the outcome. Indeed, it opened the door for fulfilment. The same is true for any who refuse to believe God’s word regarding His judgment against sin and their ultimate accountability; they will face God and be held accountable for their unbelief.

There is, and will be, no excuse.