Pastor Choi Dae-gyu
Hallelujah! I am Pastor Choi Dae-gyu, who once dreamed of a happy married life with a beautiful older sister six years my senior who treated me well, only to finally hear the Word after enduring a decade of debt repayment and famine.
In today's passage, even after their destruction, the people of Judah followed Ashtoreth—the ‘Queen of Heaven’ symbolizing success and prosperity over God—with women leading the worship of this idol. Today, for us too, appearance, money, or our children's success can become our ‘Queen of Heaven.’ God declares such idol worship an evil and detestable act.
Through today's message, let us examine and meditate on the three forms of the ‘Queen of Heaven’ that we must absolutely cut off.
First, the Queen of Heaven causes people to refuse to listen.
Though a crowd gathered before Jeremiah, he first pointed out the women's sin. In a male-dominated society, placing women at the forefront signaled how their influence had led the community into a serious state of idolatry. Ultimately, they declared, “Even if you speak in the name of the Lord, we will not listen,” closing their hearts even to seeking God's will. Why did this happen? The place they chose to flee Babylon—Pratos deep in Egypt's interior—was a center of idol worship, a place where splendid temples and a powerful culture had taken root. Compared to the desolate southern Judah, Egypt's splendor was attractive, and life and education there likely seemed better. Thus, swept away by the power of their environment, they drifted from the Word, grew spiritually dull, and ultimately came to regard even Jeremiah's voice as insignificant.
It is crucial for us to ask, “Where should I be to be fit to hear the Word?” rather than “Where should I live to be safe?” When we distance ourselves from the place where the Word is heard, without exception, our ears become deaf and our hearts harden. God still raises up Jeremiahs in our lives today, but when idols take root, that voice cannot be heard.
I too had a ‘Jeremiah’ I ignored and refused to listen to for a long time. It was my father-in-law. Living a life of failure and loneliness, I had ignored him in my heart and refused to hear the countless words he spoke to me over fourteen years. Yet, as he lay dying, he heard the gospel I shared and accepted Jesus. It was God's grace holding him until the very end. Through this event, I realized I had been the more stubborn one, and that my father-in-law was the Jeremiah in my life.
Second, the Queen of Heaven is restored to her original position.
The people of Judah mistakenly interpreted the cause of judgment not as God's punishment, but as a consequence of ceasing to worship the Queen of Heaven. When they fail to listen, they misinterpret life's events and even shake the very foundations of their conclusions. Though King Josiah demolished the high places and banned idols through his religious reform, when he ignored God's warning and went out to battle at Megiddo, where he was killed, the people misunderstood this as punishment for having abolished idol worship. When such distorted memories spread throughout a community, it is called ‘collective false memory’ or the ‘Mandela effect’. Therefore, it is crucial to record the Word and engage in daily devotions to prevent memory distortion. When reality is difficult, we instinctively try to return to the past by romanticizing it, but the past the people of Judah recalled was ultimately nothing but idol worship. Similarly, when we face hardship, we instinctively try to return to the sins of our parents' generation, the very place we wanted to break away from.
Thoughts reside in the conscious realm, but words come from the unconscious, so expressions of anger, rage, and despair naturally burst forth.
The Christian life is training to break away from the “place we naturally want to return to” and instead cultivate the habit of returning to God in a “new way”—through worship, devotional reading, and attending small group meetings.
Parenting is the same: the best way to pass on faith is for parents to show their children, even amid trials and difficulties, that they do not retreat to sin but instead draw near to God.
This is the testimony of a young sister. Growing up, she lived constantly in anxiety and loneliness, caught between a father who repeatedly drank, incurred debt, and ran away, and a mother exhausted by it all. As a teenager, she wandered, resorting to self-harm and running away, but found temporary stability through hearing God's Word at church. However, as an adult, she tried to fill her love void through boyfriends and drifted back into the world, struggling even to keep premarital purity and tithing. Meanwhile, her parents settled into church life, became shepherds, and prayed for their daughter. One day, a phone call from her father became the turning point. After experiencing a breakup with someone she had considered marrying, she finally returned to church.
As I restored my worship, I realized God had never let go of my life, and now I believe in a God of love, not one of retribution.
The ‘place to return’ prepared by parents ultimately became the grace that led their child to the Lord.
Third, the Queen of Heaven is cloaked in cunning syncretism.
The worship of the Queen of Heaven appeared outwardly more domestic and beautiful than the obscene idolatry of Egypt and Babylon at the time, but its essence was godless syncretism.
Women rationalized their actions based on their husbands' permission, but in reality, it was merely a superstitious faith seeking harmony and peace while excluding God. Even seemingly peaceful and joyful acts like burning incense, making offerings, or baking cakes become idolatry if they are unrelated to God.
Our faith today is no different from this syncretism that follows the world, content with the outward appearance of “attending church well.” Prosperity is the peace I desire without God. Amidst the syncretism seeping in under the names of sophisticated culture, healing, fun, and self-development, we must stand before Jeremiah's call to ‘repent,’ even if it makes us uncomfortable. That is the word of life that saves us.
Like Jeremiah who proclaimed God's truth even when not heard to the end, we too must live lives of faith without giving up. Even if others do not listen, our words and lives will ultimately bear fruit in the hearts of our children and families.
May we cast aside hearts that refuse to listen because of the queen of heaven and worldly powers, and return to the place of worship, quiet time, and small group fellowship that God desires. Furthermore, I earnestly pray that our children will prepare the way for their return, abandoning syncretism and superstition, and live lives that follow only the Word of the Lord.
