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Jeremiah 14:7-22

Although our sins testify against us, do something, Lord, for the sake of your name. For we have often rebelled; we have sinned against you. You who are the hope of Israel, its Savior in times of distress, why are you like a stranger in the land, like a traveler who stays only a night? Why are you like a man taken by surprise, like a warrior powerless to save? You are among us, Lord, and we bear your name; do not forsake us! This is what the Lord says about this people: “They greatly love to wander; they do not restrain their feet. So the Lord does not accept them; he will now remember their wickedness and punish them for their sins.” Then the Lord said to me, “Do not pray for the well-being of this people. Although they fast, I will not listen to their cry; though they offer burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Instead, I will destroy them with the sword, famine and plague.” But I said, “Alas, Sovereign Lord! The prophets keep telling them, ‘You will not see the sword or suffer famine. Indeed, I will give you lasting peace in this place.’” Then the Lord said to me, “The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I have not sent them or appointed them or spoken to them. They are prophesying to you false visions, divinations, idolatries and the delusions of their own minds. Therefore this is what the Lord says about the prophets who are prophesying in my name: I did not send them, yet they are saying, ‘No sword or famine will touch this land.’ Those same prophets will perish by sword and famine. And the people they are prophesying to will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and sword. There will be no one to bury them, their wives, their sons and their daughters. I will pour out on them the calamity they deserve. “Speak this word to them: “‘Let my eyes overflow with tears night and day without ceasing; for the Virgin Daughter, my people, has suffered a grievous wound, a crushing blow. If I go into the country, I see those slain by the sword; if I go into the city, I see the ravages of famine. Both prophet and priest have gone to a land they know not.’” Have you rejected Judah completely? Do you despise Zion? Why have you afflicted us so that we cannot be healed? We hoped for peace but no good has come, for a time of healing but there is only terror. We acknowledge our wickedness, Lord, and the guilt of our ancestors; we have indeed sinned against you. For the sake of your name do not despise us; do not dishonor your glorious throne. Remember your covenant with us and do not break it. Do any of the worthless idols of the nations bring rain? Do the skies themselves send down showers? No, it is you, Lord our God. Therefore our hope is in you, for you are the one who does all this.

By: The Rev. Dr. W. Ross Blackburn

Do not pray for the welfare of this people. . . . I will consume them by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence (Jer. 14:11–12).

This verse, removed from the middle of the Old Testament reading, is among the more sobering verses in the Bible. Why would God explicitly forbid prayer for his people? What would warrant such determined and irreversible judgment? The answer comes in the next chapter: “I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth because of what Manasseh the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, did in Jerusalem” (Jer. 15:4). This leads to the next question: What did Manasseh do? Of all the other wicked kings in Israel and Judah, there is one practice, and only one, unique to Manasseh: the large-scale shedding of innocent blood. Other kings were guilty of shedding innocent blood, but only Manasseh is charged with doing so on a large scale.

The Old Testament tells the rest of the story. As promised, Judah was besieged by Babylon and taken into exile. “Surely this came upon Judah at the command of the Lord, to remove out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done, and also for the innocent blood that he had shed. For he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the Lord would not pardon”(2 Kings 24:3–4).
The Lord does not turn a blind eye toward the shedding of innocent blood. Though judgment may not come immediately, it will come. Manasseh reigned for 55 years, and the judgment did not come for several generations afterward. But it did come. Judah was taken into exile, even those who presumably did not participate in Manasseh’s cruelty. The Lord will not permit the shedding of innocent blood indefinitely.

Thank God that sinners can flee to Christ Jesus for forgiveness of sin and repent, for the Son of God came into the world to save sinners. But God does not turn a blind eye to the shedding of innocent blood in our land. What is true of individuals would be true of nations: Whatever one sows, that will he reap. Do not be deceived. God is not mocked.

*There have been over 55 million abortions performed since 1973, which means 55 million babies have had their innocent blood shed.