There are two temple sermons in the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah himself preaches at the gate of the temple (Jeremiah 7), warning that the house of Yahweh has become a “den of thieves” (v. 11) and that the Lord will do to His house “as He did to Shiloh” (v. 14).

Later, he sends Baruch to read out his prophecy in the temple. Some royal officials hear the reading and take Baruch to the king, who makes a merry bonfire of Jeremiah’s prophecy.

In both cases, the temple sermons warn about the coming destruction of the temple.

The double temple sermon in Jeremiah foreshadows the double temple events of the New Testament. In the first instance, Jesus acts up in the temple, quoting Jeremiah’s “den of thieves” charge and overturning tables. The temple authorities would have recognized what Jesus was up to: He was enacting a prophecy of temple destruction.

In Acts, the apostles repeatedly preach in the temple. At the heart of their message is the good news of the Messiah, but the underside of the gospel is an exhortation to repent to flee from the coming wrath, to escape the fate of the “perverse generation” (Acts 2:40). 

If Jesus is a new Jeremiah, the apostles are a collective new Baruch, repeating the Great Prophet’s warnings to a people that is largely deaf, ready to toss prophecies into the fire.