When Jeremiah finished speaking the words of Jehovah, all the people, including Johanan, accused him of lying. They said to him, "You are speaking falsehood; Jehovah our God has not sent you to say, You shall not go to Egypt to sojourn there" (43:2). Refusing to listen to the voice of Jeremiah to remain in the land of Judah, Johanan and all the leaders of the forces took the remnant and went to Egypt.

Once they were in Egypt, there was an argument between a great assemblage of those who knew that their wives burned incense to other gods and all the women who stood by, and Jeremiah the prophet (44:15-30). They told Jeremiah that they would not listen to him. Instead, they would burn incense to the queen of heaven (the wife of Nimrod) and pour out libations to her, just as they did in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. They even went so far as to say that when they burned incense to the queen of heaven, they had plenty of food and were well off and did not see evil, but since they had ceased doing this, they lacked everything and were consumed by sword and by famine (vv. 17-18). That was a lie. When they were in Jerusalem, they were besieged and even forced to eat their children. Nevertheless, they told Jeremiah falsely that they were well off and did not experience calamities.

The children of Israel were a people who were not one with God. If they had been one with God, there would have been no problem. If they had been one with God, they would have received God's word and would have known His heart, His nature, His mind, and His purpose. If they had been one with God, then spontaneously they would have lived Him and would have been constituted with Him to be His testimony on earth.

The situation is the same among Christians today. We as Christians have also transgressed the principle of being one with God. We may not have a heart to be one with God, yet we like to be His people. The result is that we do not go along with God's will or God's mind, but rather express our opinions and care for our likes and dislikes. This is the reason for the lack of oneness among believers today. If we are not one with God, we cannot be one with one another. Those who are not one with God do not take His will and good pleasure but express their opinions and pursue their preferences. To do this is to hew out broken cisterns that can hold no water.