March 23, Jeremiah 51
"For Israel and Judah have not been forsaken by their God, the LORD of hosts, but the land of the Chaldeans is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel." - Jeremiah 51:5
In this last section of Jeremiah, the prophet foretold the wrath of God that was coming on Judah and the nations around her because of their sins. Some of the messages about a particular nation were short and succinct, just a few lines, or a single chapter. But God's wrath burned so hot against the Chaldeans that the prophecy about Babylon's fall fills two very long chapters in our Bible.
The same themes of Israel's redemption, Babylon's destruction and God's superiority over all nations, kings and false gods are continued and emphasized in Chapter 51. Since we focused on the people of God and their attitude as they returned to him in the previous chapter, let's meditate on the other two themes in this essay.
Babylon was doomed. God had used the Chaldeans to discipline and punish others; now they would feel God's wrath themselves. God called them his hammer. But now they were going to be hammered by the Medes. He called Babylon his cup of wrath poured out on the nations. But now Babylon would experience that wrath in extreme measure. This time they would be the recipients of God’s wrath.
God stacked image upon image of devastation and ruin that was coming for the sinful, cruel and proud Chaldeans. A coalition of nations led by the king of the Medes was coming to destroy Babylon. They would terrorize the people and plunder their goods. The arrows of death would rain down on the Chaldeans. The swords of the Medes would cut down the Chaldean military. Although the city of Babylon would fall in a single night, the demolition would take place over many years, until no stone large enough to be a corner or foundation stone was left in the ruins. Babylon had an incurable wound that would claim its life, and the once great and populous city would be uninhabited by any life except wild animals. Babylon was guilty of excessive cruelty and slaughter of the people of Judah, just as Assyria had done in Israel over a century before. God said that Babylon had to fall to pay for their excessive violence against Judah. He would take vengeance on the Chaldeans for the desecration and destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. The ruin of Babylon was as certain as God’s redemption of the remnant of Jews out of Babylon. Both promises were backed by the unfailing faithfulness of God.
God told Jeremiah to give a written copy of the prophecy to Seraiah to read in Babylon. After he delivered the message, he followed Jeremiah's instruction to tie a stone around the scroll and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates River. Then Seraiah was to say, "Thus shall Babylon sink, to rise no more, because of the disaster I am bringing upon her, and they shall become exhausted."
These prophecies may have been hard to believe in Jeremiah’s time. The Jews were in slavery in a foreign land, and Babylon was the greatest power in the world. But God himself would redeem the remnant of Israel and destroy Babylon. The Creator and Sovereign of all things was firmly in control. He is infinitely superior to the false gods of Babylon. He is living; they were dead. He is all-powerful; they were powerless. He speaks and it is done; they do not speak at all.
God's faithfulness and power are the same today as they were in the days of Jeremiah. He will save and bless his people. He will punish proud rebels who defy him and reject his word. God's people in Christ do not have to fear that the forces of evil will win. They will not. Jesus has overcome sin and death through his saving work on the cross and his resurrection from the dead. He promises his people that they, too will overcome in him and by his power. Just think what a difference it would make in our lives and hearts if we really, truly believed these things, and lived like we believed them! May God grant us the grace to do just that.
Copyright © 2024 by Michael B. McElroy. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Today in God's Word—March 2024
East Tallassee Church of Christ
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