14:6-8
When God condemns us for our sin there is always a way out, but only one way out, and that is repent! When God condemns us for our sin it is His hope that we will repent. Sin leads to death (Rom 6:23), but God’s ways are the way of life. So here God calls on the elders to turn from their idols and renounce all their detestable practices. God then more or less repeats the words of 14:4, though this time it is expanded to include any foreigner living in Israel. We must not set up idols in our hearts (1 John 5:21), idolatry is treated most seriously by the Lord, for it is the root destructive sin.
14:9-11
14:9 may seem strange to us, but the false prophet is still responsible for what he or she says. What it means here is that God is letting both the false prophet and people who listen to the false prophet get what they desire. He is handing them over to false prophecy, handing them over to living by lies. Our societies in the West seem very keen these days to live by lies. The really terrifying thing is that if that is what we want, then God will let us have it! Along with all the terrible consequences. And both the false prophet and those who listen (and accept) the false words are guilty. But then this section finishes with “Then they will be my people ...”. This comes about only after the people have seen the consequences of their idolatry, the consequences of abandoning God’s ways. Sadly this may be what is happening in our own land. Maybe God is letting us experience the consequences of our abandonment of Godly teaching on marriage. The response to the Covid pandemic is utterly illogical and destructive. We have, as a society, totally lost our bearings, and largely because we have abandoned our Christian heritage. The good news is that at some point we will turn back.
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