The Ancient Path and the Modern Ditch
Introduction: The Exhaustion of Innovation
Modern man is a profoundly tired man. He is anxious, over-stimulated, and perpetually exhausted. He surrounds himself with every conceivable convenience, every technological marvel designed to save him time and effort, and yet he has never been more frantic. He is a man who is running, but he has forgotten what he is running from and what he is running toward. His mantra is progress, innovation, disruption. He is convinced that the solution to his problems is always just around the corner, in the next update, the next discovery, the next revolution. He suffers from a terminal case of chronological snobbery, believing that because he lives now, he is necessarily wiser than all who have gone before.
But this frantic pursuit of the new is simply a spiritual condition. It is the soul's desperate attempt to outrun God. It is the rebellion of a creature who has rejected the map given to him by his Creator and is now trying to navigate the wilderness with his own feelings, his own intuitions, and the latest hot take from his favorite influencer. The result is not freedom, but a deep and abiding weariness. The soul was not designed for this kind of autonomy. It was designed for rest.
Into this modern chaos, the prophet Jeremiah speaks a word that is as relevant today as it was in the kingdom of Judah just before its collapse. God, through His prophet, offers a diagnosis and a prescription. He confronts the pride of a people who believe they have outgrown the old ways, and He calls them back. This is not a call to nostalgia; it is a call to reality. It is a call to stop, to look, to ask, and to return to the only path that leads to rest for the soul. And it is a stark warning of what happens when that call is refused.
The Text
Thus says Yahweh, "Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths, Where the good way is, and walk in it; And you will find rest for your souls. But they said, 'We will not walk in it.' And I set watchmen over you, saying, 'Give heed to the sound of the trumpet!' But they said, 'We will not give heed.' Therefore hear, O nations, And know, O congregation, what is among them. Hear, O earth: behold, I am bringing evil on this people, The fruit of their plans, Because they have not given heed to My words, And as for My law, they have rejected it also. For what purpose does frankincense come to Me from Sheba And the sweet cane from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, And your sacrifices are not pleasing to Me." Therefore, thus says Yahweh, "Behold, I am laying stumbling blocks before this people. And they will stumble against them, Fathers and sons together; Neighbor and friend will perish."
(Jeremiah 6:16-21 LSB)
The Gracious Invitation and the Stubborn Refusal (v. 16)
We begin with God's gracious command, which is an invitation to peace.
"Thus says Yahweh, 'Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths, Where the good way is, and walk in it; And you will find rest for your souls. But they said, 'We will not walk in it.'" (Jeremiah 6:16)
The first thing God tells a people running headlong toward destruction is to stop. "Stand." This is a command to cease the frantic, self-directed activity. The modern world tells you to hustle, to grind, to never stop moving. God says, "Be still." Then He says, "see and ask." This is a call to humility. It requires admitting you are lost. You must look at the various paths before you and then ask for directions. You don't get to invent the way.
And what are we to ask for? Not the newest trend, not the most popular road, but the "ancient paths." The good way is the old way. This is a direct assault on the idol of progress. Truth is not developmental. Righteousness does not evolve. The paths God laid out for His people at the beginning, the paths of covenant faithfulness, of trusting and obeying His Word, are the same paths that lead to life today. This is why we have the Scriptures. This is why we confess the ancient creeds. We are not smarter than our fathers in the faith; we are simply further downstream.
The promise attached to this obedience is exactly what our weary world craves: "you will find rest for your souls." This is not a weekend vacation. This is deep, spiritual shalom. It is the settled peace that comes from being rightly aligned with your Creator, walking in the groove He designed for you. It is the opposite of the anxiety that comes from trying to be your own god.
But the response is tragic and telling. "But they said, 'We will not walk in it.'" This is the definitive statement of all sin. It is a simple, defiant "No." God offers a map to a feast, and they say they would rather starve in the wilderness. God offers rest, and they say they prefer their exhaustion. This is not a failure of intellect; it is a rebellion of the will. They know the offer, and they reject it flatly.
The Second Warning and the Second Refusal (v. 17)
God does not give up after the first refusal. He sends another layer of mercy, another warning.
"And I set watchmen over you, saying, 'Give heed to the sound of the trumpet!' But they said, 'We will not give heed.'" (Jeremiah 6:17 LSB)
In His grace, God provides watchmen. These are the prophets, the ministers of the Word. Their job is to stand on the wall of the city and sound the trumpet when danger approaches. The preaching of God's Word, especially the preaching of the law and the warnings of judgment, is this trumpet blast. It is meant to be jarring. It is meant to wake a sleeping people from their comfortable slide into destruction.
But notice the response is identical in its structure. "But they said, 'We will not give heed.'" First, they refused to walk. Now, they refuse to listen. They are actively plugging their ears. This is a people determined to be damned. They have rejected the ancient path, and now they reject the warning that their new path leads off a cliff. This is the spiritual condition of every person who sits under faithful preaching week after week and refuses to repent. They are saying, with their lives, "We will not give heed."
Public Judgment as the Fruit of Private Choice (v. 18-19)
Because of this two-fold refusal, judgment is not only necessary but also public.
"Therefore hear, O nations, And know, O congregation, what is among them. Hear, O earth: behold, I am bringing evil on this people, The fruit of their plans..." (Jeremiah 6:18-19 LSB)
God calls the entire world to the witness stand. The pagan nations, the whole earth, are summoned to watch what happens when a covenant people reject their God. Our sin is never a private affair. It brings reproach upon the name of God before a watching world. And God will vindicate His own holiness publicly.
And notice the nature of the judgment. The "evil" or calamity that God is bringing is "the fruit of their plans." This is profoundly important. God's judgment is not some arbitrary lightning bolt from a grumpy deity. It is, in a very real sense, God giving people what they asked for. He is letting their own plans come to full, bitter fruition. They chose the path of rebellion, and God is simply removing the guardrails and letting them experience the destination. Sin, when fully grown, brings forth death. The calamity is the harvest they themselves have sown.
The Stench of Hypocritical Worship (v. 20)
In the midst of this rebellion, they were still a very religious people. This is what makes their sin so potent.
"For what purpose does frankincense come to Me from Sheba And the sweet cane from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, And your sacrifices are not pleasing to Me." (Jeremiah 6:20 LSB)
They were still going through the motions. They were importing the finest, most expensive ingredients for their worship. They had the best frankincense, the best sweet cane. Their worship services were probably aesthetically impressive. They had the budget, the building, and the bulletins. But God was not impressed. He says their offerings are "not acceptable" and "not pleasing."
Why? Because worship that is disconnected from obedience is an abomination. It is a lie. It is an attempt to bribe the judge. They rejected His paths, they rejected His warnings, but they still brought Him sacrifices, as if a song and a check in the plate could cover for a week of high-handed rebellion. This is the essence of hypocrisy. God desires obedience from the heart, not just religious performance. A life that says "we will not walk in it" makes any worship offered to God a foul stench in His nostrils.
The Divine Stumbling Blocks (v. 21)
This leads to the final, terrifying conclusion.
"Therefore, thus says Yahweh, 'Behold, I am laying stumbling blocks before this people. And they will stumble against them, Fathers and sons together; Neighbor and friend will perish.'" (Jeremiah 6:21 LSB)
This is one of the most sobering truths in all of Scripture. When a people persistently reject the path of life, God Himself will begin to pave their chosen path of destruction. He lays stumbling blocks before them. The very things they pursue for their own glory and pleasure become the instruments of their ruin. Their political alliances, their economic policies, their sexual freedoms, all of it becomes a series of traps and snares that ensure their downfall.
And this judgment is corporate. "Fathers and sons together; neighbor and friend." No one escapes. A society that rejects God's ancient paths will collapse together. The covenantal nature of sin means that the rebellion of one generation ensures the stumbling of the next. This is not individualism. This is a federal reality. They rejected God as a people, and they will perish as a people.
The Ancient Path is a Person
This passage might seem bleak, but it drives us to the only source of true hope. For what is the ancient path? Who is the good way? The path is not a principle, but a person. Jesus Christ stood before the world and said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6). He is the embodiment of the ancient path, the one slain from before the foundation of the world.
Where do we find rest for our souls? Jesus gives the invitation: "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28). The rest that Jeremiah spoke of is found by taking the yoke of Christ upon us, by submitting to His lordship.
And what of the stumbling block? The New Testament tells us plainly that Christ Himself is the great stumbling block. Peter says He is "A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense" for those who are disobedient to the word (1 Peter 2:8). The cross is the ultimate offense to human pride. To those who, like Judah, say "We will not walk in it," the cross is foolishness, and Christ is the rock over which they stumble into eternal judgment.
But for those who heed the trumpet call of the gospel, for those who repent of their own ways and fall down before the crucified and risen King, that same stone becomes the chief cornerstone. He is the foundation of our lives, the source of our salvation, and the location of our eternal rest.
The choice Jeremiah laid before Judah is the same choice that lies before you. You are on a path. Is it your own, cobbled together from modern ideas and personal preferences? That way is exhausting, and it ends in ruin, with stumbling blocks laid by God Himself. Or will you stand, and see, and ask for the ancient path? Will you walk in the Way, who is Jesus Christ? Only there will you find rest for your soul.