This evening, if you have your Bibles turn with me to Jeremiah chapter 50, we’ll want to continue to where we left off last week. Last, on Sunday, we left off at verse number 10. Jeremiah is bringing a prophecy against Babylon.
Babylon is a nation that had been used by God to chastise Judah for their lack of obedience to the Lord and their lack of willingness to walk with Him and their willingness to seek to follow other gods instead of following the Lord. But God said that He would judge Babylon and that simply because He was using them to deal with Judah did not mean that they were going to get by without His judgment because of their wickedness.
One of the main issues that we studied as we’ve been going through Daniel and you see an attitude that is contained within Babylon and it’s one of great pride and arrogance.
As we’ve been studying in Daniel and Jeremiah and prior to that the kings of Israel, we know that Babylon at this particular time in history at the time that Jeremiah was living was by far the most powerful nation in the area. They had usurped the power of Assyria. Assyria had been defeated by them and also Assyria had passed from the scene of being a major player politically and militarily in the Middle East sometime prior to this.
But prior to Babylon being used by God, Assyria had been used by God to chastise the northern kingdom of Israel. One of the things that Babylon thought is that Judah deserved what was happening to them and that their God was inconsequential and not powerful and that Judah deserved everything they got and that they, Babylon, were stood above and their gods were much more significant and powerful than the God of the Jews. We’re going to look at this evening and continue on to see that that is not the case.
God has not forgotten Judah and He is going to deal with Babylon and Babylon will suffer consequences and it’s interesting because as they are the most powerful military and political entity in the Middle East at this time, there’s coming a day where they’re going to be an afterthought and Israel never will be. So let’s just take a look at what he says and let’s pick it up beginning at verse 11.
11 Because ye were glad, because ye rejoiced, O ye destroyers of mine heritage, because ye are grown fat as the heifer at grass, and bellow as bulls;
In other words, what Babylon was doing is they were filled with joy and glee because of what they saw happening to Israel. And the example he gives is one from agriculture and God refers to them as heifers that have grown fat from having really good grass and they become at ease and bulls that bellow with contentment. And he said that, but you have nothing to be at ease or content with and nothing to be filled with joy about.
12 your mother shall be sore confounded; she that bare you shall be ashamed: behold, the hindermost of the nations shall be a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.
Why?
Because the wrath of the Lord, it shall not be inhabited, but it shall be wholly desolate. Everyone that goeth by Babylon shall be astonished and the hiss at all her plagues.
He’s saying you think that you’re so beyond being judged, but your judgment is going to be complete to the point that when people pass by, they’re going to mock what you once were and say, What ever happened to her? This one that was so powerful, this one that was so filled with pride, but there will be nothing to be proud about.
Put yourselves in array against Babylon around about. All ye that bend the bow, shoot at her, spare no arrows, for she hath sinned against the Lord.
Now God’s calling on the nations that are around Babylon and we know that the main nation that he was calling on at this time, when Daniel saw the statue and he saw the head of gold, which he said was Babylon at the time of Nebuchadnezzar.
And then he saw the chest of silver with the two arms and he said that that would be the Medo-Persian Empire. And as we studied on Sunday, the pride of Babylon was so great that Belshazzar, the king, acting king of Babylon, he was actually second in command to his father. And he was in ruling in Babylon at the time when they were invaded by the Medes and the Persians.
Yet he was so proud and arrogant. He thought nothing can touch us. And at that very moment, the Medes and the Persians were walking underneath the city and coming in uncontended and would be defeating Babylon that very night.
The pride of the Babylonians was great. But God said, it will be coming down and you will be torn down because of it.
Shout against her round about. She hath given her hand, her foundations are fallen, her walls are thrown down. For it is the vengeance of the Lord. Take vengeance upon her as she hath done. Do unto her.
Now it’s interesting that God talks about two of the things that Babylon had great pride in. One was her walls and two was her foundation.
The city of Babylon was surrounded, as I mentioned on Sunday during the service, it was surrounded by these very thick walls that were impregnable. Nobody could break through them. They were so wide and structured so well, you could ride more than one chariot around at a time on the top of the walls.
And the foundation was so great that the city never would fall. Or so they thought. But the thing is, they did not count on the fact that the Lord is the one who by his word created all things. And by his word shall judge all things. And he says, the Lord shall bring vengeance on you. Not Judah, not Israel, but the Lord.
And the Lord is the one that you cannot build a wall against. There are people like that today that are filled with pride and arrogance. And perhaps they put their trust in money or they put their trust in their businesses or they put their trust in their political power and authority. Or they put their trust in the fact that they control and can manipulate thousands of people. But they can’t stand against God. And the thing is, that’s something that every one of us needs to remember. God is greater than any man. God is greater than any circumstance. And when men are arrogant and prideful and mock the Lord and come against that which he loves, vengeance will come and vengeance is the Lord’s.
And in the New Testament it tells us that we are to realize that we are not to take vengeance because vengeance is God’s. And he has the power and the authority and he knows how he can do it. He says in verse 16,
16 Cut off the sower from Babylon, and him that handleth the sickle in the time of harvest: for fear of the oppressing sword they shall turn every one to his people, and they shall flee every one to his own land.
Now, what is he saying there? Well, remember Babylon, one of the things that they did is they would bring the people from all the lands into Babylon. They’d bring the brightest and the most brilliant and they’d bring them in to make them Babylonians. That’s what they did with Daniel, Ananias, Asheriah and Mishael. They brought them in and they sent them to the college of Babylon to turn them into Babylonians, to turn them into Chaldeans.
And they did that with every nation they conquered. They would take and they’d bring people, the brightest and the best, into the nation of Babylon. Well, he’s saying there’s coming a day where this isn’t going to happen anymore. And those that are within the city of Babylon that are from other nations, they’re going to flee and go back to their own nations. Why? Because Babylon will be destroyed and they will not have the power over these people any longer. And God will take away their ability to control as they once controlled.
17 Israel is a scattered sheep; the lions have driven himaway: first the king of Assyria hath devoured him; and last this Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath broken his bones.
And if you remember the king of Assyria Nebuchadnezzar came against the northern kingdom of Israel around a hundred years before. Nebuchadnezzar came against the southern kingdom of Judah. But he’s saying these two nations, Assyria and Babylon, scattered the sheep of Israel.
And they literally took them from the land. The Assyrians took the Israelis and they marched them all the way from Israel in the northern portion of Israel where the ten tribes were at. And what the Assyrians would do is they’d put a hook and chains between the people and they’d march them hooked one to another from their native land back to Assyria.
The Babylonians took the men and women of Judah from Judah to Babylon. So they were scattered. They were no longer in the land. And they were no longer a flock of sheep gathered together as God had intended them to be. And then he says,
18 Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria.
He doesn’t say that about Babylon. He doesn’t say that about Syria. He does say it about Israel. Even though Israel was a flock of sheep that had been scattered, they were going to be gathered again by the Good Shepherd once again to their nation. And we know that this happened during the time of Nehemiah and Ezra. And we also know that during the second dispersion under the Romans that it’s going to happen and it has happened again today. And one of the things that’s amazing is we see what God does to bring the people back together.
Today, around the world, nations are not accepting of the Jewish people. They’re becoming more and more anti-Semitic. And you’re seeing a greater move to go back to Israel today than you have in a long time.
And they’re going back from nations that just 20 years ago people would say, Why would you go back to Israel? You’ve got wonderful opportunities in Europe. You’ve got wonderful opportunities in America. You’ve got wonderful opportunities in South America. Why would you go back to Israel? But today you’re seeing in countries all over the world more and more anti-Semitism arising. Just about three months ago, the head rabbi in Israel encouraged all Jewish people in France to come back to Israel because anti-Semitism was growing so great in France. It’s not much better in England, in Britain today.
And anti-Semitism in America is growing. You’re seeing it amongst even the conservative people in America that are politically conservative. They’re anti-Jewish.
And there’s no reason to be other than they are not walking with God. And God will use their hatred of what He loves to bring His people and gather them back together as a flock. And that’s exactly what happened here.
He brought them out of these places where He had allowed them to be scattered to. And He said, I will bring them back. And I’ll bring them back into their land.And that’s exactly what He did shortly after Jeremiah passed away in Egypt. And it was a few years later that they started coming back and rebuilding Jerusalem. And He says,
in those days and in that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none. And the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found, for I will pardon them from whom I reserve.
God says, my grace shall be extended, my forgiveness shall be shown, and my promises that I gave to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will be revealed. And one of the things is people today, Christians today, it’s like they cut these verses out of the Bible.
And they say, God’s done with Israel. There’s a big movement in the church today. It’s the Replacement Theology Movement, which comes on the back of a lot of other heretical teachings.
And what they’ve done is they ignore these verses or make them to say, I don’t see the church in that verse at all. I see Israel. But yet they would take Israel out and replace it with the church and say, well, this promise is given to the church. No, this promise was given to the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that God was going to pardon them and you wouldn’t remember their sins anymore. And we see that that is revealed again, the fullness of that promise in the book of Revelation, when the Lord shall return at the end of the, when Jesus returns to judge the quick and the dead and to come against the enemies of Israel at the end of the great tribulation. And he shall deliver them and they’ll look upon him whom they pierced and will see that he is their Messiah.
This will come in its complete fullness at that time, but it’s already, we’re already seeing it. I’ve shared with you before about how One for Israel, Jews for Jesus, friends of Israel, they’re seeing in their ministries a tremendous turning to Jesus as Messiah by many Jewish people. And I’ve gotten just a tremendous report more than once from One for Israel about how they’re seeing God working in Jewish hearts. So realize that God’s promise is real and what he’s saying is happening. And it’s not what the false teachers that are coming to the church would tell you.
A sound of battle is in the land and of great destruction. How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken? How has Babylon become a desolation amongst the nation?
In other words, God says you were the most powerful nation in the earth. You were a great hammer. You were the one that everyone was afraid of, but yet you become nothing. And how did that happen? It happened by my power, by the power of the Lord. We need to realize that God raises nations up and he can take nations down. And when men become proud and arrogant, God can deal with them no matter how great they think they are.
How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder? I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon, and thou wast not aware. Thou art found and also caught, because thou hast striven against the Lord.
Now the final striving against the Lord came during the kingdom of Babylon after Nebuchadnezzar when his grandson, as we saw during studying Daniel on Sunday, when his grandson took the temple instruments and began to use them and mock them and drink wine in honoring the false gods. And they looked at the gold temples and they worshipped the god of gold. They looked at the silver instruments and they worshipped the instrument of silver. They looked at that which was made of wood and they worshipped the god of wood. And then they drank to these gods and it was made a total mockery. And they were striving against the Lord. And God said, I will only allow this so long and then judgment will fall.
We need to understand that as you look at the world and more and more wickedness comes, there is coming a day where God’s hand will finally fall and judgment will come. The scriptures tell us that. And we need to realize that God’s authority is the one that needs to be accounted to and not man’s.
The Lord hath opened his armory and hath brought forth the weapons of his indignation. For this is the work of the Lord God of hosts in the land of the Chaldeans.
What he’s saying is not the Medes and the Persians, but it’s God using the Medes and the Persians to come in. And he’s opened, that’s his armory. God’s controlling the nations and he controls the Medes and the Persians. They come in and they attack and their weapons destroy Babylon. But it’s really God using those weapons. And we see that God does the same today. And he goes on and he says,
Come against her from the utmost border. Open her storehouses. Cast her up as heaps and destroy her utterly. Let nothing of her be left. Slay all her bullocks. Let them go down to the slaughter. Woe unto them, for their day is come, the time of their visitation.
The voice of them that flee and escape out of the land of Babylon to declare in Zion, the vengeance of the Lord our God, the vengeance of his temple. Call together all the archers against Babylon. Call ye that bend the bow. Camp against it. Round about. Let none hereof escape. Recompense her according to her works, according to all that she hath done. Do unto her, for she hath been proud against the Lord and against the Holy One of Israel.
When you see nations that mock God, understand that God takes account.
And there are nations in the world mocking God today, but God is taking account. And a day of reckoning is coming. I just read again today that there were more pastors that were killed in Nigeria again this last week. In many of the countries around the world, God’s bride is being mocked and martyred. But God’s taking account. And a day of reckoning will come. And it’s a fearful thing to fall into the hands of an angry God.
One of the things that started the first great awakening was Jonathan Edwards’ sermon that he gave to his church on a Sunday morning, calling falling into the hands of an angry God. In that sermon, they said that Jonathan Edwards wasn’t the greatest orator in the world. He would read his sermons. But that day, as he read the sermon, and he got to the point, and he was talking and giving a description of what it was like to fall into the hands of an angry God. And the people that were mocking God with their lives, and mocking God with their attitudes, and saying, I’m a Christian, but I can continue to live however I want, were like those that were sitting on the preface of hell, ready to fall in at any time and be consumed by its fires. And it literally said that as he was preaching that sermon, men and women were grabbing and weeping and shaking as they realized their position before God as they examined their own hearts and how they had been mocking the Lord with their lives and their actions.
How men in our nation and around the world mock God. They say that they’re Christians, they say that they believe in God, but then they mock Him with their lives.
And then you have those that totally mock Him and they say He doesn’t exist. And you can look at Romans chapter 1, and you see that the mockery grows greater and greater as one goes down the vortex of rebellion against God, which grows greater in the lives and in the cultures and in the societies. And we’re seeing in America today much of that. And even coming into the church where the church is embracing it and not calling sin, sin. Not calling rebellion, rebellion, but instead saying we have to be accepting and be sympathetic towards those that are caught up in rebellion and sin. God says a day of reckoning is coming.
Just as a day of reckoning came to the nation of Babylon, that day of reckoning will come to those who do not repent and turn to the Lord.
Let’s just close in prayer. Lord I pray that you just help us to understand. Babylon was so proud. They thought they were justified in coming against Israel. Lord it’s sad to say many today that our Christians are so proud. And they feel justified in coming against Israel. But Lord may we realize that when we come against that which you love and that which you have promised and that which you say that you will deal with and forgive their sins, we’re coming against you. And Lord may we realize that just as vengeance was poured out upon Babylon for her open rebellion and mockery of you and all that you love, may we realize that nothing has changed today, that your vengeance will come. And Lord help us to warn and be watchmen on the wall. Warning of the impending danger and that men and women would repent and turn to you. This we ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.