When God Stops Listening Text: Jeremiah 7:16-20
Introduction: The Point of No Return
We live in a soft and sentimental age. Our conception of God has been thoroughly domesticated. For many modern Christians, God is a celestial therapist, an infinitely patient grandfather, or a divine butler who is always on call. Prayer, in this framework, is our unlimited talk time plan with the Almighty. We believe He is obligated to listen, that His essential nature is to be an open ear for every complaint, petition, and whim that flits through our minds. We assume that access to the throne of grace is an inalienable right, something God could no more revoke than He could cease to exist.
And then we come to a passage like this one in Jeremiah, and our domesticated deity is suddenly let off the leash. Here we are confronted with a God who is holy, just, and sovereignly severe. Here we find God Himself issuing a restraining order against prayer. He tells His own prophet, a man whose job description is to stand in the gap, to stand down. "Do not pray for this people... for I am not hearing you."
This is one of the most terrifying statements in all of Scripture. It marks a point of no return. It is a declaration that the covenant lawsuit is over, the verdict has been rendered, and the sentence is about to be carried out. The time for appeals, for intercession, for mercy, is closed. This is not God having a bad day. This is the settled, judicial wrath of a holy God against a people who have become experts in provoking Him. This passage forces us to ask a hard question: Is it possible for a people, for a nation, for a family, to sin their way past the point of mercy? The answer from Jeremiah is a resounding and terrible yes. And so we must pay close attention to the diagnosis, because the disease described here is not confined to ancient Judah. The idols have changed names, but the industry of rebellion is booming.
The Text
"As for you, do not pray for this people and do not lift up a cry of lamentation or prayer for them and do not intercede with Me, for I am not hearing you. Are you not seeing what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? The children gather wood, and the fathers make the fire burn, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods in order to provoke Me. Do they provoke Me?" declares Yahweh. "Is it not themselves they provoke to the shame of their own face?" Therefore thus says Lord Yahweh, "Behold, My anger and My wrath will be poured out on this place, on man and on beast and on the trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground; and it will burn and not be quenched."
(Jeremiah 7:16-20 LSB)
The Divine Restraining Order (v. 16)
The passage begins with a shocking command from God to His prophet.
"As for you, do not pray for this people and do not lift up a cry of lamentation or prayer for them and do not intercede with Me, for I am not hearing you." (Jeremiah 7:16 LSB)
God essentially tells Jeremiah to hang up the phone. The line is closed. This is not a suggestion. It is a command, repeated three times for emphasis: do not pray, do not lift up a cry, do not intercede. Why? Because God has already made His decision. "I am not hearing you." This is not a statement about God's auditory capabilities. It means, "I am not going to answer favorably. I have shut the door of mercy."
Intercession is a powerful force in God's economy. The prayers of a righteous man avail much. Abraham interceded for Sodom, Moses for rebellious Israel, and their prayers were heard. But here, the sin of Judah has reached a saturation point. Their rebellion is so high-handed, so public, and so deeply ingrained that God, in His justice, withdraws the very means of grace. The removal of the intercessor is part of the judgment itself. It is a sign that the nation has been given over to its sin and to the consequences of that sin.
This should chasten us. We must never treat prayer as a magical incantation or a tool for manipulating God. It is a blood-bought privilege of covenant relationship. And when the terms of the covenant are systematically and joyfully trampled, there comes a point where the covenant Lord says, "Enough." This is not an arbitrary fit of pique; it is the righteous response of a holy God whose patience, while vast, is not infinite.
The Domestic Industry of Idolatry (v. 17-18)
God then tells Jeremiah to open his eyes and see the reason for this severe decree. The sin is not hidden; it is on full public display.
"Are you not seeing what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? The children gather wood, and the fathers make the fire burn, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods in order to provoke Me." (Jeremiah 7:17-18 LSB)
Notice the structure of this rebellion. It is a family affair. This is a picture of domestic industry, of a household working together in perfect harmony. The children are doing their part, the fathers are doing theirs, and the mothers are doing theirs. It is a well-oiled machine. But what is this machine producing? Cakes for the "queen of heaven," likely the Assyrian-Babylonian goddess Ishtar, a fertility idol. They are taking the God-ordained structure of the family, a unit designed to be a miniature church and a factory of righteousness, and they have converted it into a factory for idolatry.
This is the anatomy of cultural apostasy. It does not happen overnight. It happens when the basic building block of society, the family, reorients itself around a false god. The fathers are leading, but they are leading their families straight to hell. The mothers are nurturing, but they are nurturing devotion to a demon. The children are learning obedience, but they are being discipled in rebellion against Yahweh.
We must not read this and simply cluck our tongues at the ancients. What is the central organizing principle of the modern American family? What are our fathers, mothers, and children working together to serve? Is it the Triune God and His kingdom? Or is it the queen of heaven in one of her modern guises: the goddess of materialism, the god of the travel sports league, the idol of academic achievement, the altar of personal comfort and entertainment? When a family's schedule, budget, and energy are dedicated to a pursuit other than the glory of God, they are gathering wood, lighting fires, and kneading dough for a foreign god.
The Boomerang Effect of Sin (v. 19)
God then asks a searing, rhetorical question. It reveals the ultimate folly and stupidity of sin.
"Do they provoke Me?" declares Yahweh. "Is it not themselves they provoke to the shame of their own face?" (Jeremiah 7:19 LSB)
The first question's answer is obviously yes, they are provoking Him. That is the stated intent in the previous verse. But God pushes deeper. The real victim of their rebellion is not God, but themselves. God is transcendent, self-sufficient, and impassible. Our sin is an infinite offense because of who He is, but it cannot diminish His glory or disrupt His eternal bliss. He is not wringing His hands in heaven over our rebellion. But our sin absolutely destroys us.
Sin is a boomerang. You throw it at God, and it comes back and hits you squarely in the face. They thought their idolatry would bring them fertility, prosperity, and freedom. Instead, it brings them "the shame of their own face." Shame is public exposure and disgrace. This is the logic of the Fall in Genesis 3. The serpent promised Adam and Eve that they would be like God, but their sin resulted in them hiding from God, aware of their own nakedness and shame. Sin always over-promises and under-delivers. It is cosmic treason, but it is also profound, self-destructive foolishness.
The Unquenchable Fire of Judgment (v. 20)
Because of this pervasive, familial, self-destructive idolatry, the sentence is pronounced.
"Therefore thus says Lord Yahweh, 'Behold, My anger and My wrath will be poured out on this place, on man and on beast and on the trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground; and it will burn and not be quenched.'" (Jeremiah 7:20 LSB)
The "therefore" connects the sin directly to the judgment. This is covenantal justice. God is not being arbitrary; He is keeping His promises, specifically the curse sanctions of the covenant (Deuteronomy 28). The wrath is described as being "poured out," like a liquid, saturating everything. And notice the scope of it. It falls not just on man, but on the beasts, the trees, and the fruit. The whole creation is dragged into the consequences of man's rebellion. When the covenant head sins, the whole realm he represents suffers. This is why Adam's sin subjected the entire creation to futility (Romans 8).
And the fire of this wrath is "not quenched." This is a terrifying image of final, inescapable judgment. There is no fire extinguisher big enough to handle the blaze of God's holy anger against sin. This is the language of hell. This is the end of the line for all who persist in provoking God to His face.
The Cross as the Quenched Fire
A passage of such unrelenting judgment seems to leave no room for good news. But we must always read the Old Testament in the light of the New. Where do we see this unquenchable fire poured out? Where do we see a man bearing the full measure of God's wrath, not just for one nation, but for the sins of the world?
We see it at Calvary. At the cross, the anger and wrath of God against the idolatry of His people were poured out on one place. They were poured out on one man, the Lord Jesus Christ, hanging on a tree. He became the focal point of all the covenant curses. He endured the unquenchable fire in our place. He bore the full "shame of His own face" as He was publicly exposed, so that we might be clothed in His righteousness and never be put to shame.
The command to Jeremiah, "Do not pray," finds its ultimate reversal in Christ. Because of Christ's finished work, we now have a great High Priest who ever lives to make intercession for us (Hebrews 7:25). The line is always open. Access is guaranteed, not because of our righteousness, but because of His. He is the one Mediator whose prayers the Father always hears.
Therefore, the warning of this passage remains sharp. We must examine the domestic industries of our own hearts and homes. Are we baking cakes for the queen of heaven? Are we provoking God and bringing shame upon ourselves? The only escape from the unquenchable fire is to flee to the One who was consumed by it for us. Repent of your idolatry, turn from the shame of your own face, and look to the face of Jesus Christ. For in Him, and in Him alone, the God who justly refuses to hear the prayers of rebels becomes the Father who delights to hear the cries of His children.