'Peace, Peace' When There is no Peace - Damon J. Gray
They have healed the wound of my people lightly,
saying, ‘Peace, peace,’
when there is no peace.
– Jeremiah 6:14, ESV1
Everything Is [not] Fine!
The prophet Jeremiah spoke, primarily, to the Kingdom of Judah. His prophecies were exceedingly unpopular because his message was a recurring, “Hey, you’re messing up here, folks, and judgment is coming!” No one wants to hear that, and for Jeremiah, his messages brought down the wrath of both the king and the priests. They characterized Jeremiah’s prophecies as treasonous, an accusation that resulted in his being beaten and imprisoned.
While Jeremiah obediently spoke the truth of God’s impending judgment, the charlatans assured both the king and the people that everything was just fine and that, in fact, Jerusalem had a bright and prosperous future. They “healed the wound of God’s people lightly,” giving a false diagnosis of good health instead of saying, “We have cancer and we need to purge this sin from our lives and our society.”
Again, no one wants to listen to that.
Profitable Prophecy
For from the least to the greatest of them,
everyone is greedy for unjust gain;
and from prophet to priest,
everyone deals falsely.
They have healed the wound of my people lightly,
saying, ‘Peace, peace,’
when there is no peace.
– Jeremiah 6:13-14, ESV
There will never be a shortage of people who will tell us exactly what we want to hear. Cross their palms with enough cash and they will deliver any message we want just to keep that cash coming. As it is today, so it was with the priests and false prophets of Jeremiah’s day.
The poser priests gave the people and the king a flood of false assurances that God was not at all displeased with Judah. By their account, God was quite happy with them and wanted to shower them with blessings.
In stark contrast to the Pollyanna message of the priests and false prophets, Jeremiah delivered a consistent flow of agonizing prophecies, declaring Judah’s unfaithfulness, idolatry, and social injustice. In response, God was raising up Nebuchadnezzar in Babylonian as his instrument of judgment.
Judgment Came
In precise alignment with what Jeremiah said, “the foe from the north” came with devastating destructive power as Jerusalem was overrun by Babylonian armies in a mere two months’ time. The people were taken captive, just as Jeremiah warned, and were carried off to serve the king of Babylon for seventy years.
Profitable Prophecy
In 1 Kings 22, we read of how Jehoshaphat, king of Judah went for a visit to Ahab, king of Israel. While speaking, Ahab got a burr under his saddle and decided he wanted to go to war against Syria (also called Aram) and he pressed on Jehoshaphat to join him in this fool’s errand. Rightly, Jehoshaphat said, “Well, let’s see what God has to say about this, and to that end, they called the “prophets,” four hundred of them, the text says.2 “Go up,” they said to Ahab, “for the Lord will give it into the hand of the king,”2 and “Go up to Ramoth-gilead and triumph; the Lord will give it into the hand of the king.”3 They even manufactured theatrical props to demonstrate how the battle victory would be achieved.
Judgment Came
Jehoshaphat was wise to be suspicious of Ahab’s appeasing prophets and asked for a 401st opinion. Ahab said there was another prophet, Micaiah, son of Imlah, but he refused to grant Micaiah audience, “for he never prophesies good concerning me.”4 And so it was.
And Micaiah said, “Therefore hear the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing beside him on his right hand and on his left; and the LORD said, ‘Who will entice Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ And one said one thing, and another said another. Then a spirit came forward and stood before the LORD, saying, ‘I will entice him.’ And the LORD said to him, ‘By what means?’ And he said, ‘I will go out, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And he said, ‘You are to entice him, and you shall succeed; go out and do so.’ Now therefore behold, the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; the LORD has declared disaster for you.”
– 1 Kings 22:19-23, ESV
Ahab died on that battlefield.
Profitable Prophecy
In Ezekiel 13, God rages against the false prophets who say, “Hear the word of the LORD,” following their own spirit when they have seen nothing.5 They saw false visions and gave lying divinations, saying “Declares the LORD” when the LORD had not sent them yet, amazingly, they still expected God to fulfill their prophecy, almost as though they were in control and expected God to do their bidding.6
We hear it today, from our own false prophets, “I decree, and I declare…”
Judgment Came
Precisely because they have misled my people, saying, ‘Peace,’ when there is no peace, and because, when the people build a wall, these prophets smear it with whitewash, say to those who smear it with whitewash that it shall fall! There will be a deluge of rain, and you, O great hailstones, will fall, and a stormy wind break out. And when the wall falls, will it not be said to you, ‘Where is the coating with which you smeared it?’ Therefore thus says the Lord God: I will make a stormy wind break out in my wrath, and there shall be a deluge of rain in my anger, and great hailstones in wrath to make a full end. And I will break down the wall that you have smeared with whitewash, and bring it down to the ground, so that its foundation will be laid bare. When it falls, you shall perish in the midst of it, and you shall know that I am the Lord. Thus will I spend my wrath upon the wall and upon those who have smeared it with whitewash, and I will say to you, The wall is no more, nor those who smeared it, the prophets of Israel who prophesied concerning Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her, when there was no peace, declares the Lord God.
– Ezekiel 13:10-16, ESV
The prophecy of Ezekiel was a graphic description of Nebuchadnezzar’s second siege that laid Jerusalem to waste. The walls were felled, the Temple of Solomon looted and leveled along with the royal palace. The people of the city were forcibly deported to Mesopotamia. King Zedekiah, who attempted to flee under the cover of night, was captured. Nebuchadnezzar, forced Zedekiah to witness the execution of his own sons and have his eyes gouged out before being bound in chains and dragged off to Babylon, where he died in prison.
Profitable Prophecy
The prophet Micah decried the soft messages of those who cried out, “Peace” when they had something to eat, but declared holy war against those who put nothing into their mouths.7
Its heads give judgment for a bribe;
its priests teach for a price;
its prophets practice divination for money;
yet they lean on the LORD and say,
“Is not the LORD in the midst of us?
No disaster shall come upon us.”
– Micah 3:11, ESV
Judgment Came
Micah explicitly prophesied that because of their self-delusion, Jerusalem would be reduced to a heap of ruins, with the temple mount overgrown like a forest. This nightmarish fate delayed was realized under Babylonian siege described above, and it came because the spiritual leaders of Jerusalem refused to call the people to genuine repentance. “It’s okay. God is fine with how you’re living. Just roll with it.”
The Point
Western society, today, is a mirror reflection of the societies Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Micaiah, and Micah prophesied against, and every one of those societies ignored the warnings and met with horrific ruin. In the United States I see a willfully blind civilization whistling past the graveyard, ignoring the country’s deep cultural and moral decay while saying, “It’s fine. Everything is fine.”
Sure, everything seems pleasant enough because we have our own spiritual “prophets” whispering “Peace, peace,” when there is no peace. Throughout history, episodes of widespread cultural decline have rarely been marked by panic among the masses. Rather, they are typically characterized by a collective, deliberate desire for comfort, denial, and reassurance that “all is well.”
When a society drifts from foundational truths, acknowledging the reality of that drift requires a level of discomforting introspection and a tank full of courage that our sinfulness drives us to avoid. It is far more palatable consume the reassuring cultural narratives or to adopt a passive posture that does not require us to face hard diagnostics.
In the same way the prophets of old were labeled as troublemakers and traitors for pointing out the rot beneath the surface, anyone speaking candid truth about cultural degradation today finds themselves swimming against a strong current of “anti-legalism” mantras and declarations of “judge not!” Indeed, the last time I spoke publicly about such matters I had to have an armed escort from the building.
People hold a strong preference for the whitewashed wall because admitting cultural decay is rarely just an intellectual exercise. Genuine acknowledgment of cultural degradation requires decisions and actions. It can feel like an accusation against family, community, faith, or even oneself because, to be candid, it is.
If we acknowledge that we or our community have blemishes, we may be ostracized—seen as disloyal to the community or the cause, and pushed out. Furthermore, if we position ourselves in the camp proclaiming “people are basically good” then any message contrary to that is an attack on group self-image. It comes across as an aggression to be resisted rather than a reason to change.
Societies morph over time. When the changes are gradual, it is easier to adapt and to say, “Well, it’s not that bad.” Step by step, adaptation by adaptation, each degrading move begins to feel normal and palatable, even missed if not there.
There is also an element of self-interest to maintaining the status quo. Just like the Ephesian silversmiths could not allow Paul’s gospel message to threaten their business, we are wise to follow the money today to determine who benefits from a society that is rotting from the inside out.
And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.
– John 3:20, ESV
There’s a subtle, yet inviolable, distinction between loving a community and protecting that community’s image. True recovery will not begin until the body of Christ can look at itself in the mirror of God’s word and begin naming specific harms. We must identify the departures and accept that accountability for those is an act of loyalty, not betrayal. Only then can we see our structural failure and engage the painful process of rebuilding.
1. The same phrase is found in 6:14, 8:11, Ezekiel 13:10, 13:16
2. 1 Kings 22:6
3. 1 Kings 22:12
4. 1 Kings 22:8
5. Ezekiel 13:2
6. Ezekiel 13:6-7
7. Micah 3:5
