Jeremiah 4:18
Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee; this is thy wickedness, because it is bitter, because it reacheth unto thine heart. Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee; this is thy wickedness, because it is bitter, because it reacheth unto thine heart.
Thy way and thy doings bring thy calamities upon thyself, and thy wickedness is bitter in its effects because it reaches to the heart. It was first spoken to Judah and Jerusalem, in a context that treats the unfaithful union of God's church with the world as fornication and adultery. The judgment on ancient Jerusalem is a faint shadow of a greater destruction coming upon the world, for Zion and Jerusalem stand for the church in all ages so the warning is not limited to old Jerusalem before Christ. It belongs manifestly to the time just before the second coming of Christ, when widespread corruption and appalling wickedness in the cities call for Jehovah's personal visitation in fierce anger for the destruction of evil, in sudden judgments by earthquake and fire when cities become ripe and in the great coming war of Armageddon when all nations are prepared for battle unto the destruction of earthly kingdoms. The desolate land with no people described in the chapter is the earth after Christ's coming when the wicked have been slain and probation has ended, when the regular order of seedtime and harvest gives place to desolation out of which God will create new heavens and a new earth.
Meaning and Historical Setting
Thy way and thy doings procured these things, so that the calamity came because the people's own conduct brought it upon them. Their suffering was not imposed from without but was the consequence of their own wicked way and deeds. That wickedness is bitter in its effects, and its bitterness lies in this, that it reaches even unto the heart. The pain reaches inward, touching the seat of life itself, which makes the result grievous and piercing.
The word was first spoken to Judah in its distress, whose own conduct brought disaster upon the people. The chapter addresses Israel and Jerusalem, naming them at the outset before opening upon wider destruction. Its setting in Jeremiah 2-4 is an unfaithful union of God's church with the world, which God calls fornication and adultery.
Prophecy of Final Destruction
The judgment upon ancient Jerusalem was a faint shadow of a greater destruction coming upon the world. Zion and Jerusalem stand for the church in all ages, so the warning is not limited to old Jerusalem and the Jewish nation before Christ. The verse belongs to a prophecy of devastation caused by widespread corruption, and refers manifestly to the time just before the second coming of Christ, when appalling wickedness in all the cities calls for the personal visitation of Jehovah in fierce anger for the destruction of evil at the end of time. The desolation coming upon cities is procured by the people's own way and doings, for this is their wickedness, bitter and reaching to the heart.
When cities become ripe, that wickedness brings the judgments of God upon them in sudden destruction by earthquake and fire through the shaking down and burning of wicked cities. This was seen in San Francisco, Valparaiso, Kingston, and the city of thirty thousand at the foot of Mount Pelee laid silent in death with thousands beyond reach of help, which did not happen by chance. Prevailing fornication, murder, and assembling in troops at harlots' houses literally fulfill the prophet's words and show that gross widespread corruption must very soon bring that visitation.
The verse predicts the great coming war of Armageddon, when all the nations of the earth shall be prepared for battle, which will mean the destruction of earthly kingdoms. The chapter's description of a desolate land with no people is the earth after Christ's coming, when the wicked have been slain, for the people's own ways and actions have brought the calamity and its bitterness has reached their hearts. It belongs to the awful confusion and trouble that will come upon the earth when men are no more worthy of God's favor. While men live here in probation and enjoy God's favor the regular order of seedtime and harvest and the seasons continues, but when probation ends and God sets men aside that order gives place to the desolation described in Jeremiah 4, out of which God will create new heavens and a new earth.