In Jeremiah, chapter eight, verses one through twenty-two, Jeremiah refers to the impending desolation of Judah and Jerusalem as if it had already occurred. Their fate would be the result of the people’s stubborn rebellion and sin, as in chapter seven, verse twenty-four. “But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.”
Jeremiah’s vision of desolation caused him great sorrow, as in verses eighteen through twenty-two of this theme chapter. Although God’s servant Jeremiah was prophesying doom, false prophets were predicting peace, as in verses ten to eleven, “Therefore will I give their wives unto others, and their fields to them that shall inherit them: for every one from the least even unto the greatest is given to covetousness, from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely. For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.”
At that time may refer to the beginning for some, as children are born into the world, and the end for others who leave this earth and will move on to the next stage. But even then, the judgment has not come to a height. Even sinners long dead must yet bear the shame of their sins. “At that time,” points back to “days come” in Jeremiah seven, verse thirty-two. “Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall no more be called Tophet, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter: for they shall bury in Tophet, till there be no place.”
“At that time” is a phrase that everyone can relate to with situations that they do not desire to face head-on.