Rev. Don Campbell
Jeremiah 7-9
THOUGHT FOR TODAY, August 9, 2019
“THE DAY JEREMIAH WAS FORBIDDEN TO PRAY”
God told Jeremiah, “Pray no more for these people, Jeremiah. Do not weep or pray for them, and don’t beg me to help them, for I will not listen to you” (7:16, NLT). They were not only disobeying God, they were making a mockery of faith, turning it into superstition and a cloak for greed: “Don’t be fooled into thinking that you will never suffer because the Temple is here. It’s a lie! Do you really think you can steal, murder, commit adultery, lie, and burn incense to Baal and all those other new gods of yours, and then come here and stand before me in my Temple and chant, ‘We are safe!’—only to go right back to all those evils again? Don’t you yourselves admit that this Temple, which bears my name, has become a den of thieves? Surely I see all the evil going on there. I, the Lord, have spoken! Go now to the place at Shiloh where I once put the Tabernacle that bore my name. See what I did there because of all the wickedness of my people, the Israelites. While you were doing these wicked things, says the Lord, I spoke to you about it repeatedly, but you would not listen. I called out to you, but you refused to answer. So just as I destroyed Shiloh, I will now destroy this Temple that bears my name, this Temple that you trust in for help, this place that I gave to you and your ancestors. And I will send you out of my sight into exile, just as I did your relatives, the people of Israel” (7:8-15, NLT).
We must keep the context in mind: In chapter two, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, and he recounted God’s dealings with Israel from the day he brought them out of Egypt down to the present, reminding them of their sinful rebellions. He summarized: “Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate declares the Lord, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water” (2:12-13). The older generation was teaching the younger generation the art or idolatry: “Don’t you see what they are doing throughout the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? No wonder I am so angry! Watch how the children gather wood and the fathers build sacrificial fires. See how the women knead dough and make cakes to offer to the Queen of Heaven. And they pour out liquid offerings to their other idol gods! Am I the one they are hurting?” asks the Lord. “Most of all, they hurt themselves, to their own shame” (7:12-19, NLT). The die was cast; they would go into captivity in a in Jeremiah’s lifetime.
Paul urges us to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17), James urges us to pray one for another (5:16), Peter tells us that the ears of the Lord are open to the righteous (1 Peter 3:12). John tells us that we can have confidence that if we ask anything according to his will he will hear us (1 John 5:14). However, that is not all John said: “If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that” (vv.16-17). The death under consideration is spiritual death, not physical, as verses 11-13 show: “And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.”
Sin unto death is not a specific sin, but a lifestyle: “Dear friends, if we deliberately continue sinning after we have received knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice that will cover these sins. There is only the terrible expectation of God’s judgment and the raging fire that will consume his enemies. For anyone who refused to obey the law of Moses was put to death without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Just think how much worse the punishment will be for those who have trampled on the Son of God, and have treated the blood of the covenant, which made us holy, as if it were common and unholy, and have insulted and disdained the Holy Spirit who brings God’s mercy to us. For we know the one who said, ‘I will take revenge. I will pay them back.’ He also said, ‘The Lord will judge his own people.’ It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:26-31).
CONNECTIONS
1. We may have friends and loved ones who, like the prodigal son of Luke 15, have left home for the pig pen. We cannot pray for God to save them in the pig pen, but can we pray that through his providence, God will cause them to “come to their senses”(Luke 15:17)?
2. Sometimes the advice “When in doubt, don’t” is a good rule of thumb. If we are in doubt about a brother or sister, should we refuse to pray for them or pray and leave it up to God who knows their heart?
