“This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, say:” ‘Even now, if you quit your evil ways, I will let you stay in your own land. But don’t be fooled by those who promise you safety simply because the Lord’s Temple is here. They chant, “The Lord’s Temple is here! The Lord’s Temple is here!” But I will be merciful only if you stop your evil thoughts and deeds and start treating each other with justice; only if you stop exploiting foreigners, orphans, and widows; only if you stop your murdering; and only if you stop harming yourselves by worshiping idols. Then I will let you stay in this land that I gave to your ancestors to keep forever.” Jeremiah 7:3-7
What happened was truly wonderful. Hilkiah gave the Book of the Law to Shaphan, who read it before the king. The king gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem, and they had the Law read to all the people. Then they made a covenant with God to walk before Him. They celebrated a Passover in Jerusalem: “And there was no Passover like to that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet; neither did all the kings of Israel keep such a Passover as Josiah kept, and the priests, and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel that were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah was this Passover kept” (2 Chron. 35:18–19). They reinstituted the services in the temple with all the sacrifices and feasts. That was good and wonderful. Then what was the problem? The problem was that they were not changing their ways. They lived just as they had lived before.
It is evident that, although they are going to the temple and are returning to temple worship, there is no real change in their lives. They are still living as they did when they were worshiping idols. It is only an outward revival at this time. The time would come when it was more real, but at this point it is only a surface movement. Now we see the attitude of the people, which was the thing that concerns Jeremiah.
You can imagine how the people felt about all of this. They were exclaiming, “My, look at the temple! Isn’t it beautiful? Didn’t they do a good job of repairing it? Isn’t it nice to get back to the temple; it’s just like old times!” You see, there was enthusiasm about the temple, but there was no genuine turning to God. Today we see a new fade starting in the church and what happens? The people get all excited about this new thing, but it does not take long for the excitement to end and they are back to the same old thing. If we are to have a true returning to God, it must be an inward revival.