Articles
Do Not Pray For Them
Do Not Pray For Them
16 “As for you, do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with me, for I will not hear you. Jeremiah 7:16
14 “Therefore do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer on their behalf, for I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their trouble. Jeremiah 11:14
11 The Lord said to me: “Do not pray for the welfare of this people. Jeremiah 14:11
God then told Jeremiah: "Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my heart would not turn toward this people. Send them out of my sight, and let them go! And when they ask you, ‘Where shall we go?’ you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord:
“ ‘Those who are for pestilence, to pestilence, and those who are for the sword, to the sword; those who are for famine, to famine, and those who are for captivity, to captivity’ (Jer. 15:1).
The context of the prophet Jeremiah and his time is of utmost importance here. As we read Jeremiah we understand that Judah is at the end of God's patience with them. They have rebelled generation after generation. The rebelled in the wilderness with Moses. They rebelled under Joshua's leadership. They constantly rebelled during the period of the Judges. Their kings led them not in the paths of righteousness but in the steps of Jeroboam who taught them to sin. They cast aside the whole thought of God. They exchanged Him for a worthless idol.
God had been more than patient. He has sent prophet after prophet to call them back to Him. He has pleaded with them. He has chastised them. He has forgiven them time and again. Their heart was simply set on backsliding. Now He has had enough. There will be no more 'one more last chance'. They are slated for judgment for their unfaithfulness.
THUS God told Jeremiah these three time to not pray for them or for their welfare.
There is a parallel to this in 1 John 5:16. There John speaks of a brother 'committing a sin not unto death' and contrasts that with the fact that there is 'sin that leads to death'. For THAT situation God instructs us not to pray for it. It is not 'A sin' - but 'sin'. It is not a particular sin but a life of sin. If you understand this with Jeremiah in the background you begin to see the application. When you find a brother that sins and then will repent when reproved and admonished then pray and God will give him life. IF however a brother becomes obstinate in his sin and refuses to be corrected, as in the case of Jeremiah, John says for such do not pray.
There's a line that is drawn by rejecting the Lord" - and woe to the man that crosses it. It is dangerous to 'play' with sin for it hardens the heart and sears the conscience. It brings a man to the point that he will not repent and he will not return unto God. Brethren, don't go there.
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