Jeremiah 6:16, commentary and pictures

God commands His people to stop, look, ask for the old paths, discern where the good way lies, walk in it, and so find rest for their souls, and their answer that they will not walk in it is refusal of His instruction and counsel. The old paths where the good way is found are His counsels, especially the teachings of the Mosaic law and the principles of righteousness in His law, and walking in them brings the highest spiritual blessing and rest to each person and to the nation. They are also the original truths of the faith as brought into their true light by Christ, which human customs and traditions had displaced. In its later bearing the verse calls for holding fast the faith, truth, and experience already given through prayerful study of the Word and built up point by point into present truth, defending that distinct position and refusing to exchange it for a supposed new way of sophistries, false teaching, and false science that diverts minds from present duty. Deep inner rest comes from seeking and walking in that good way of God's commandments, where the will is swallowed up in God's will and the walker walks in company with Christ, which is rest in Jesus Himself for the burdened.

The Call Explained

The Lord commands His people to stand in the ways and look, to ask for the old paths, to discern where the good way lies, to walk in it, and so to find rest for the soul, while their answer that they will not walk therein is rejection of His instruction and counsel. That walking in obedience brings spiritual blessing and rest to each person and to the nation, and restoring God's law to its rightful place is the way to revive primitive faith and godliness among His professed people. The call to stop and consider the way leaves hope for those who will hear the truth and repent.

The old paths where the good way is found are God's counsels, especially the teachings of the Mosaic law and the principles of righteousness in His law. Walking in that way brings the highest spiritual blessing to the nation and to each person, including rest for the soul. The old paths are also the original truths of the faith as brought into their true light by Christ, which human customs and traditions had displaced.

Rejecting the light God gives leads to unbelief and spiritual blindness, so that people mistake truth for deception and lose the blessings intended for them. The surrounding warning describes leaders and people who resist the Lord's word, practice wrongdoing, and refuse to be ashamed, yet God does not make a full end of them.

Holding the Old Paths

In its later application the old paths are the truth, faith, and experience already given by God through prayerful study of the Word and by revelation. They are the foundations of faith laid at the beginning of the work and built upon for fifty years, point by point, bringing His people out from the world into the clear light of present truth. They include the light concerning last-day perils and duties, the old landmarks, and the way God has led His people. To ask for the old paths and walk in the good way is therefore to return to those good paths of heavenly-origin truth already received and to walk in them rather than turn aside.

That call demands holding fast what was received and inquiring for those paths. It means defending the distinct position rather than joining hands with the world, for neglecting that duty leaves the church drifting into worldliness. It means refusing to let anyone tear away those foundations or rob God's people of their past experience. The beginning of confidence must be held steadfast unto the end, keeping on in the way of faith rooted in Christ even when others turn back, so retaining spiritual vitality.

The verse warns against abandoning that foundation for a supposed new way and stronger foundation, new principles, sophistries, false teaching, speculative knowledge, and false science. Such claims that the scenes just before us need no special attention are a great deception of the enemy to divert minds from present duties, the warnings of the last days, the perils and duties of the hour, and the work of preparing a people to stand. Like past attempts to build a new faith on new principles, they will soon fall because they are not founded upon the Rock, for other foundation can no man lay than that which has been laid.

For the remnant of the last generation before the second advent, whom God designs to fit for translation to heaven without seeing death, asking for the old paths and walking therein means teaching observance of the Ten Commandments, Sabbath and all, reviving the gifts, and acknowledging the gift of prophecy among them, and this return is the cause of the dragon's wrath and war against them. Rejecting reproof and refusing to walk in the good way is shown when church members take church matters to worldly courts, thereby choosing the world as judge, showing sympathy with unbelievers, betraying sacred trust, and exposing the power controlling them. Those who lead God's people into false paths and disobedience must themselves inquire for the right path, return to God's commandments and follow Christ's example, remove stumbling blocks, and restore God's standard in their institutions.

Rest and Faithful Walking

Deep inner rest is found by seeking and walking in the old, good way, which is the way of God's commandments. To walk there is to have the human will swallowed up in the will of God and given to Him, and to use His gifts to bless others, so that life's burden becomes light. One who walks so walks in company with Christ and goes with Him, and in His love the heart is at rest, with God's presence going with him.

The promised rest for the soul is rest in Jesus, who invites burdened workers to lay their burdens at the cross and find rest in Him. Affliction can lead those who have wandered into skepticism to seek the old paths of Bible truth and the good way. When they repent and return, skepticism gives way and they regain their former love for God, leaving selfish ambition behind and turning their desires and lives toward heavenly things. In that return they set their feet on the way prepared for the redeemed, and God's Spirit becomes more precious to them than wealth or human praise.

The call is to examine the course at every step and ask whether it is the Lord's way. Those who serve God are to walk in that way with devotion and love and desire for His glory. They are to keep walking in the way of faith even when others turn back, abiding in that faith rooted in Christ and living for Him, and so retain spiritual vitality.

Children stand at the parting of the ways where they must choose between the world's enticements to self-seeking and self-indulgence and the path cast up for the ransomed. Whether their lives shall be a blessing or a curse depends upon the choice they make. Their overflowing energy and untried capabilities must find some outlet and will be active for good or for evil, and aspiration, irrepressible desire for greater good, indomitable will, strenuous application and untiring perseverance are to be directed to objects as much higher than mere selfish and worldly interests as the heavens are higher than the earth. Parents and Christians are under sacred covenant to give right direction and rear children for His service, carefully, wisely and tenderly guiding them into paths of Christlike ministry, surrounding them with influences that lead them to choose a life of service and giving them the training needed as first duty.