When the Intercessors are Sent Away: Text: Jeremiah 15:1-9
Introduction: The Point of No Return
We live in a sentimental age, an age that has mistaken God's patience for God's approval. Our culture believes that God, if He exists at all, is a doting, slightly senile grandfather in the sky, who would never, ever bring Himself to do anything harsh. His job, in their view, is to forgive. And so they sin with a high hand, assuming that the bank of God's mercy has unlimited funds and that the check of their rebellion will never bounce.
But the God of Scripture is not the god of our therapeutic imaginations. He is holy, He is just, and while He is longsuffering, His patience is not infinite. There comes a point in the life of an individual, and in the life of a nation, when the line is crossed. There is a point of no return, a moment when the accounts are called in, when the opportunities for repentance have been so thoroughly squandered that God says, "Enough." This is a terrifying thought, and it should be. It is a guardrail on the cliff's edge of presumption.
In our passage today, Jeremiah delivers a message that is utterly stripped of all comfort and earthly hope. God tells His prophet that the time for intercession is over. The spiritual capital of the nation has been spent. The sin has reached a tipping point, and judgment is no longer a future possibility; it is a present, unfolding, and irreversible reality. God is not just threatening judgment; He is explaining its anatomy. He is showing them the blueprints of their own destruction.
This is a hard word. It is not a message designed to fill the seats or tickle the ears. But it is a necessary word, because it reveals the character of God. It shows us that sin has consequences, that rebellion has a cost, and that God's holiness is not a negotiable attribute. And for us, living in a nation that mirrors Judah's apostasy in so many ways, this is a word we must not ignore. We must understand what happens when a people exhaust the patience of God, because that is the only way we can understand the glorious, unmerited grace that has been shown to us in Jesus Christ, who stood in the gap when no one else could.
The Text
Then Yahweh said to me, “Even though Moses and Samuel were to stand before Me, My soul would not be with this people; send them away from My presence and let them go! And it will be that when they say to you, ‘Where should we go?’ then you are to tell them, ‘Thus says Yahweh: “Those destined for death, to death; And those destined for the sword, to the sword; And those destined for famine, to famine; And those destined for captivity, to captivity.” ’ I will appoint over them four kinds of doom,” declares Yahweh: “the sword to kill, the dogs to drag off, and the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth to devour and bring to ruin. I will give them over to be an example of terror among all the kingdoms of the earth because of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem. “Indeed, who will spare you, O Jerusalem, Or who will console you, Or who will turn aside to ask about your well-being? You who have abandoned Me,” declares Yahweh, “You keep going backward. So I will stretch out My hand against you and bring you to ruin; I am tired of relenting! And I will winnow them with a winnowing fork At the gates of the land; I will bereave them of children; I will make My people perish; They did not repent of their ways. Their widows will be more numerous before Me Than the sand of the seas; I will bring against them, against the mother of a choice man, A destroyer at noonday; I will suddenly bring down on her Anguish and terror. She who bore seven sons languishes; Her breathing is labored. Her sun has set while it was yet day; She has been shamed and humiliated. So I will give over their survivors to the sword Before their enemies,” declares Yahweh.
(Jeremiah 15:1-9 LSB)
The Ineffective Intercession (v. 1-2)
The passage opens with a staggering declaration from God, a divine restraining order against the ministry of intercession.
"Then Yahweh said to me, 'Even though Moses and Samuel were to stand before Me, My soul would not be with this people; send them away from My presence and let them go!'" (Jeremiah 15:1)
God invokes the two greatest intercessors in Israel's history. Moses, who stood in the breach and turned back God's wrath after the golden calf incident, pleading with God to blot him out of His book rather than destroy the people (Exodus 32:32). And Samuel, who prayed for Israel his entire life and whose prayers were instrumental in their victories (1 Samuel 7:9). God is saying that even if He were to resurrect the "A-team" of intercession, the varsity squad of prayer warriors, their pleas would fall on deaf ears. The verdict is in. The sentence has been passed. The time for appeals is over.
This is a crucial lesson in the nature of corporate sin. There comes a point where the accumulated rebellion of a people becomes so great that it outweighs the pleas of the righteous among them. The cup of iniquity becomes full (Genesis 15:16). God tells Jeremiah to stop praying for them and to "send them away." They are being excommunicated from His presence, which is the essence of judgment. The worst thing that can happen to a people is not famine or sword, but for God to say, "Go away from Me."
The people, in their spiritual stupor, will ask the practical question: "Where should we go?" They are like tenants being evicted who are only concerned with their next lodging. They do not yet grasp the spiritual reality of their situation. God's answer in verse 2 is a grim, poetic sorting of the damned.
"And it will be that when they say to you, 'Where should we go?' then you are to tell them, 'Thus says Yahweh: "Those destined for death, to death; And those destined for the sword, to the sword; And those destined for famine, to famine; And those destined for captivity, to captivity."'" (Jeremiah 15:2)
This is the language of divine sovereignty in judgment. God is not just predicting what will happen; He is decreeing it. He has an appointment book, and He has scheduled four different kinds of doom for His people. This is a direct reversal of the covenant blessings. Instead of life, death. Instead of peace, the sword. Instead of abundance, famine. Instead of a homeland, captivity. This is what happens when a covenant people decide they know better than their covenant Lord. The covenant has two sides, blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience (Deuteronomy 28), and God is faithful to His threats as much as He is to His promises.
The Anatomy of Doom (v. 3-4)
God then elaborates on the mechanics of this judgment, showing that it will be total and humiliating.
"I will appoint over them four kinds of doom," declares Yahweh: "the sword to kill, the dogs to drag off, and the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth to devour and bring to ruin." (Jeremiah 15:3)
This is a picture of complete desecration. It is not just death, but a dishonorable end. To be killed by the sword was one thing, but to have your corpse dragged through the streets by dogs and picked apart by vultures was the ultimate shame in the ancient world. It was a denial of a proper burial, a sign of utter divine rejection. The creation itself, the birds and the beasts, is conscripted into God's army of judgment against a people who had worshipped the creation rather than the Creator.
And why this severe, unyielding judgment? Verse 4 gives the historical anchor for this tipping point.
"I will give them over to be an example of terror among all the kingdoms of the earth because of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem." (Jeremiah 15:4)
Manasseh was the king who took Judah's apostasy to its absolute nadir. He reversed the reforms of his godly father Hezekiah, set up idols in the very temple of God, practiced child sacrifice, and "shed very much innocent blood, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another" (2 Kings 21:16). Now, the Bible tells us that Manasseh himself later repented (2 Chronicles 33:12-13). But the corporate effects of his sin, the national trajectory he established, were never truly reversed. The subsequent reforms of Josiah were genuine, but they were too little, too late. The nation's heart was not in it. Manasseh's sin had a spiritual half-life that continued to poison the nation long after he was gone. This is a sobering lesson in corporate and generational responsibility. The sins of leaders have long and devastating consequences. We are still living with the consequences of decisions made generations ago.
The Divine Indictment (v. 5-6)
God now turns to address Jerusalem directly, with a series of rhetorical questions that highlight her utter desolation and abandonment.
"Indeed, who will spare you, O Jerusalem, Or who will console you, Or who will turn aside to ask about your well-being?" (Jeremiah 15:5)
The answer, of course, is no one. She has alienated her only true protector and comforter. The surrounding nations will not pity her; they will mock her. She will be a pariah, a cautionary tale. This is the loneliness of apostasy. When you abandon God, you find yourself utterly alone in the universe He created.
Verse 6 provides the reason for this abandonment. It is not arbitrary; it is a direct consequence of their actions.
"You who have abandoned Me," declares Yahweh, "You keep going backward. So I will stretch out My hand against you and bring you to ruin; I am tired of relenting!" (Jeremiah 15:6)
The charge is simple: abandonment. They left God first. His judgment is a response to their spiritual adultery. They were not progressing; they were "going backward," regressing into the paganism from which God had delivered their fathers. And so God, who had stretched out His hand to save them at the Red Sea, now stretches out His hand to destroy them. The final phrase is one of the most chilling in all of Scripture: "I am tired of relenting." God had shown mercy again and again. He had sent prophets, warnings, and lesser judgments. He had relented from His fierce anger time after time. But their persistent rebellion had, in a manner of speaking, exhausted His patience. This does not mean God is fickle or emotionally volatile. It is anthropomorphic language to help us understand that there is a divinely appointed limit to longsuffering in history.
The Instruments of Judgment (v. 7-9)
The final verses use powerful agricultural and social imagery to describe the thoroughness of the coming destruction.
"And I will winnow them with a winnowing fork At the gates of the land; I will bereave them of children; I will make My people perish; They did not repent of their ways." (Jeremiah 15:7)
The winnowing fork was a tool used to throw threshed grain into the air. The wind would blow away the light, worthless chaff, while the heavier grain fell to the ground. God says He will take His covenant people and toss them into the winds of judgment. The unrepentant, the chaff, will be blown away into exile and death. This is a judgment that separates. The gates of the land, where business and justice were conducted, will become the threshing floor of God's wrath. The reason is stated plainly: "They did not repent of their ways."
The judgment will strike at the heart of the nation's future: its families.
"Their widows will be more numerous before Me Than the sand of the seas... She who bore seven sons languishes; Her breathing is labored. Her sun has set while it was yet day; She has been shamed and humiliated." (Jeremiah 15:8-9)
The promise to Abraham was that his descendants would be as numerous as the sand of the sea. Here, God twists that promise into a curse: the widows alone will be as numerous as the sand. A destroyer will come at "noonday," in the prime of their strength, bringing sudden terror. The image of the mother of seven sons is a picture of the ideal, fruitful, blessed woman. But even she will languish, her strength gone, her sons dead. Her sun sets while it is still day, a metaphor for a life cut short, for a nation whose promise is extinguished prematurely. The shame and humiliation are total. The survivors will not escape; they will be handed over to the sword of their enemies. God's declaration, "declares Yahweh," brackets this section, reminding us that this is not fate or bad luck. This is the sovereign, judicial act of a holy God.
No Moses, But a Greater One
This is a bleak and terrifying passage. It shows us a God who is not to be trifled with. It shows us a line that can be crossed. And if the story ended here, we would be left in utter despair. If even Moses and Samuel cannot intercede for a people this far gone, what hope is there for us?
But the story does not end here. This passage forces us to look for a better intercessor, a greater mediator. The law, represented by Moses, cannot save a people determined to break it. The prophets, represented by Samuel, cannot save a people determined to ignore them. We needed someone who was more than a lawgiver and more than a prophet. We needed someone who could do more than just stand in the gap. We needed someone who could fill the gap with his own perfect righteousness.
And this is precisely who Jesus Christ is. He is the one who stood before God when God was "tired of relenting." He is the one against whom God stretched out His hand. All the doom described here, the death, the sword, the abandonment, the shame, was poured out upon Him at the cross. He became the target of the winnowing fork. He was dragged out of the city and publicly shamed. His sun went down at noonday. He was abandoned by God so that we, who deserved to be abandoned, would never have to be.
Unlike Moses, who asked God to blot him out of His book, Jesus was actually blotted out for us. He drank the cup of God's wrath to the dregs. And because He did, His intercession is not like that of Moses or Samuel. His intercession is always effective, because it is based not on our repentance, but on His finished work. "He is able, once for all, to save those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them" (Hebrews 7:25).
Therefore, this passage should drive us to Christ with fear and trembling, and with profound gratitude. It shows us the judgment we deserve, so that we might cling to the Savior we have been given. It reminds us that while God's patience with rebellious nations may have a limit, His promise to save all who come to Him through His Son has no limit at all.