“Thus says the LORD, ‘Stand in the court of the LORD’S house, and speak to all the cities of Judah who have come to worship in the LORD’S house all the words that I have commanded you to speak to them. Do not omit a word!’ … And you will say to them, “Thus says the LORD, ‘If you will not listen to Me, to walk in My law which I have set before you, to listen to the words of My servants the prophets, whom I have been sending to you again and again, but you have not listened; then I will make this house like Shiloh, and this city I will make a curse to all the nations of the earth'”‘” (Jer 26:2, 4-6).
Going to a synagogue, a church, or any other house of worship does not make us right with God. We can busy ourselves from morning till evening with religious activities, even those activities which God’s has prescribed (e.g., praying, singing, fasting, celebrating feasts, and giving to the poor), and still be standing under the dark clouds of God’s great displeasure.
We must listen to the words of Moses and the Prophets
God sends Jeremiah the prophet to the epicenter of biblical religion to tell us what we must do to be right with him. We must listen to the words of Moses and the Prophets. And Moses and the Prophets say a lot about Israel’s Messiah: where he will be born, when he will come, how we will treat him when he comes, how he will die, and a whole host of other precise information, so that when he came we would recognize and believe in him.
No matter how religious we are and all the good things we do, being right with God is determined by our answer to one question. Did we listen to the words of Moses and the Prophets?
“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me…. Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; the one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?” (John 5:39, 45-47; see Luke 16:27-31).
