Jeremiah 4:29, commentary and pictures

The verse pictures the desolation of war, when at the sound of horsemen and bowmen the whole city flees into thickets and up onto the rocks until every city is forsaken with no man dwelling in it. It belongs to a desolation of the whole land under the Lord's fierce anger, when the fruitful place becomes a wilderness and all the cities are broken down, and the earth is left without form and void with no light, no man, and the birds fled. Its scene had only a partial fulfillment in the siege and destruction of Jerusalem and in sweeping punishments on other lands, which were only typical and a faint shadow, for it is not past but future. It describes the utter destruction of all the wicked and all earthly kingdoms at Christ's second appearing, when the wicked are slain and the righteous taken away, yet the holy seed is reserved and preserved through it. The empty earth that remains is Satan's confinement in the abyss during the thousand years, when no one is left on earth for him to tempt, so the earth at the beginning of the thousand years is desolate and not a populated place where Christ and the saints reign over surviving people.

Words and Historical Setting

The sound of mounted troops and archers sends the whole city into flight, driving people to hide in thickets and to climb up onto rocks until every city is left forsaken with no one dwelling in it. That emptying of cities is the desolation produced by war, with inhabitants abandoning their homes before an advancing invading force. In the time of Jacob's trouble the remnant, figured as the daughter of Zion, stretches out its hands in prayer while weary because of murderers.

This flight belongs to a desolation of the whole land under the Lord's fierce anger, when the fruitful place becomes a wilderness and all the cities are broken down before His presence. It is portrayed as the earth without form and void, like the earth in its original chaotic state before creation was ordered, with the heavens having no light, with no man, and with the birds fled. The land is left desolate and without inhabitants after the wicked are destroyed and the righteous taken away.

What befell Jerusalem in siege and destruction was only a partial and incidental fulfillment, and the sweeping punishments visited upon Palestine and other lands for flagrant sins had only secondary reference. Those earlier destructions were merely typical and prophetic, only a faint shadow of the rapidly approaching final destruction. The emptying and breaking down of the earth with every city forsaken is therefore not past but future, belonging to the terrible last-day scenes when mountains tremble, hills move, and all is broken down at the presence of the Lord and by His fierce anger, yet with the holy seed reserved and preserved through it.

Final Prophecy Fulfillment

The flight at the sound of horsemen and archers into thickets and onto rocks, leaving every city abandoned, belongs to the beginning of the terrible, great and dreadful day of the Lord and the time of Jacob's trouble. It is a time of destruction and utter desolation of the whole land under divine judgment. In that time the remnant, represented by the daughter of Zion, spreads forth its hands in prayer and is weary because of murderers.

It means the whole land shall be desolate and every city forsaken with not a man dwelling therein, in utter destruction of all the wicked and all earthly kingdoms. At the voice of God the battle of the great day begins, at the second appearing of Christ in His kingdom when He gathers the nations and assembles the kingdoms to destroy them. The wicked are slain and the righteous are taken away at Christ's coming, leaving the earth desolate and without inhabitants. Yet the holy seed is reserved and preserved through it, and the fulfillment is not past but future, in harmony with the emptying and breaking down of the earth.

The resulting empty earth, left in a chaotic condition like the earth before creation was ordered for human life and without form and void, is Satan's confinement in the abyss during the thousand years. The land lies under the Lord's fierce anger with cities broken down and no people dwelling in them, after the righteous have been taken away and the wicked slain. During the thousand years no one remains on earth for Satan and the fallen angels to tempt, and they are not allowed to go to another world. At the beginning of the thousand years the earth is therefore desolate, not a populated place where Christ and the saints reign over surviving people.

The citywide flight from invading horsemen and archers belongs to a desolation of the whole land that applies only partly and incidentally to Jerusalem's siege and destruction, with fuller application to the world's destruction in the closing days, already beginning to be fulfilled. It predicts the great coming war of Armageddon and warns of the period before the day of the Lord when all the nations of the earth shall be prepared for battle. The present move toward military preparedness fulfills this prophecy, and carried out to its end it means the destruction of earthly kingdoms. Being considered well prepared stirs up boasting and aggressiveness in a nation, and when one nation feels prepared for its foes other nations prepare and feel the same way, a carnage connected with the devastation caused by modern war in Europe.

Jeremiah 4 shows the awful confusion and trouble that will come upon the earth when men are no longer worthy of God's favor and probation has ended. The promise that seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease holds only for the normal condition of the world while men live here in probation and enjoy God's favor, and has held true since it was given and will hold true just as long as men live here in probation. When God sets men aside the earth is counted as destroyed or rejected until God creates new heavens and a new earth, and Jeremiah 4 describes that intervening time of chaos out of which the new creation will come. All the cities are broken down at the presence of the Lord and by His fierce anger, for the Lord has purposed it, picturing the same dreary scene beyond conception as the earth without form and void, the heavens with no light, no man, and the fled birds. Sweeping punishments visited upon Palestine and other lands because of flagrant sins had only secondary reference and were only typical and prophetic of the great final never-to-be-repeated cleansing of the earth, the great final day of reaping after ages of haughty sowing to Satan from the Garden of Eden to that great day, in which all will have a part on one side or the other.

Doctrine and Moral Warning

At the beginning of the thousand years the earth is desolate, not a populated place where Christ and the saints reign over surviving people, for every city is abandoned with no one living in it. At Christ's second coming every city is forsaken with no man dwelling therein, the cities of the nations fall, cities are laid waste without an inhabitant, and the earth is left empty, so there is no earthly city left to rule. Therefore the authority over ten cities and five cities promised to faithful servants cannot be given at the second appearing while the saints go to heaven to reign with Christ in the holy city for one thousand years, but will be given on the new earth when the saints receive their everlasting inheritance.

The prophecy of Jerusalem's destruction in which people flee an invading force into thickets and rocky places leaving every city empty also applies to the church in the last days, whose iniquity will duplicate the iniquity that brought destruction on ancient Jerusalem. It belongs to Jeremiah 2 to 4, which shows that God calls union of His church with the world fornication and adultery. It shows how the wrath of God will be poured out as the penalty for not obeying the warning contained in the third angel's message.

The cities receive special judgment because the people are wise to do evil but have no knowledge to do good, and the land is filled with murder. This is seen in the deep-rooted municipal corruptions of the great cities that grow worse with every exposure, belonging to the desolation of the whole land when the fruitful place becomes a wilderness and all the cities are broken down before the presence of the Lord and His fierce anger as people flee from attacking horsemen and archers into thickets and up onto rocks. As God destroyed the old world for gross wickedness and overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah for the same reason, and would have destroyed Nineveh had its people not repented, so He must soon strike all the cities of the world with divine justice and power. The warning should make every true Christian earnest to turn men from the evil way before it is too late.