That warning is for us too.

Jeremiah wasn’t joking when he warned that Babylon was going down. And as we know of real Babylon in this moment that took away Israelites for a 70 year captivity (sanctioned by God), we also know of Babylon’s demise. And often scholars will suggest that ALL nations eventually become corrupted into Babylon-like demise brought on by its own folly. A broken world plays like a broken record. Just skip from one era to another. 

God’s people survive however. In this era, Israel is taken by Nebuchadnezzar who himself will go into the Lord’s correction. Another one of those times the Lord says: I’m handling this! “for I will forgive the remnant I spare.” And the Lord tells His people this too, for fortifying them, comforting them and allowing them to wait upon God.

That’s us too, wait upon God. I often think we need to both listen for Jesus calling but ALSO read the transcription records that He has been dictating FOR YEARS. Just like those secretarial spiral dictation copy pads for phone messages from the days past, we are to reread the recorded records of God’s Action Plans and whom He’s messaging. (AND WE GET TO READ AHEAD IN HIS WORD TOO)

There are two BIG messages here: Babylon and Babylon-like situations (where people oppose the Lord) are going down like to rock tied to Jeremiah’s scroll message (isn’t God good at demonstrations) – AND – the Lord is setting up His people for forever forgiveness and life (isn’t God good at restorations!).

Those going down: “I set a trap for you, Babylon, and you were caught before you knew it; you were found and captured because you opposed the Lord. –  …The arrogant one will stumble and fall and no one will help her up…”

Those being rescued: “their Redeemer is strong; the Lord Almighty is his name. He will vigorously defend their cause so that he may bring rest to their land…”

The Lord God says: “Who is the chosen one I will appoint for this? Who is like me and who can challenge me? And what shepherd can stand against me?”

No one, especially not Babylon, nor any evil in this world. 

If God is for us, who can be against us? Stick with Saving Grace. 

Amen 

—

Jeremiah 50:17-46 and 51:58-64

“Israel is a scattered flock that lions have chased away. The first to devour them was the king of Assyria; the last to crush their bones was Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.”

Therefore this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “I will punish the king of Babylon and his land as I punished the king of Assyria. But I will bring Israel back to their own pasture, and they will graze on Carmel and Bashan; their appetite will be satisfied on the hills of Ephraim and Gilead. In those days, at that time,” declares the Lord, “search will be made for Israel’s guilt, but there will be none, and for the sins of Judah, but none will be found, for I will forgive the remnant I spare.

“Attack the land of Merathaim and those who live in Pekod. Pursue, kill and completely destroy them,” declares the Lord. “Do everything I have commanded you. The noise of battle is in the land, the noise of great destruction! How broken and shattered is the hammer of the whole earth! How desolate is Babylon among the nations! I set a trap for you, Babylon, and you were caught before you knew it; you were found and captured because you opposed the Lord. The Lord has opened his arsenal and brought out the weapons of his wrath, for the Sovereign Lord Almighty has work to do in the land of the Babylonians. Come against her from afar. Break open her granaries; pile her up like heaps of grain. Completely destroy her and leave her no remnant. Kill all her young bulls; let them go down to the slaughter! Woe to them! For their day has come, the time for them to be punished.

Listen to the fugitives and refugees from Babylon declaring in Zion how the Lord our God has taken vengeance, vengeance for his temple. “Summon archers against Babylon, all those who draw the bow. Encamp all around her; let no one escape. Repay her for her deeds; do to her as she has done. For she has defied the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. Therefore, her young men will fall in the streets; all her soldiers will be silenced in that day,” declares the Lord.

“See, I am against you, you arrogant one,” declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty, “for your day has come, the time for you to be punished. The arrogant one will stumble and fall and no one will help her up; I will kindle a fire in her towns that will consume all who are around her.”

This is what the Lord Almighty says: “The people of Israel are oppressed, and the people of Judah as well. All their captors hold them fast, refusing to let them go. Yet their Redeemer is strong; the Lord Almighty is his name. He will vigorously defend their cause so that he may bring rest to their land, but unrest to those who live in Babylon.

“A sword against the Babylonians!” declares the Lord — “against those who live in Babylon and against her officials and wise men! A sword against her false prophets! They will become fools. A sword against her warriors! They will be filled with terror. A sword against her horses and chariots and all the foreigners in her ranks! They will become weaklings. A sword against her treasures! They will be plundered. A drought on her waters! They will dry up. For it is a land of idols, idols that will go mad with terror.

“So desert creatures and hyenas will live there, and there the owl will dwell. It will never again be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation. As I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah along with their neighboring towns,” declares the Lord, “so no one will live there; no people will dwell in it.

“Look! An army is coming from the north; a great nation and many kings are being stirred up from the ends of the earth. They are armed with bows and spears; they are cruel and without mercy. They sound like the roaring sea as they ride on their horses; they come like men in battle formation to attack you, Daughter Babylon. The king of Babylon has heard reports about them, and his hands hang limp. Anguish has gripped him, pain like that of a woman in labor. Like a lion coming up from Jordan’s thickets to a rich pastureland, I will chase Babylon from its land in an instant.
    

Who is the chosen one I will appoint for this? Who is like me and who can challenge me? And what shepherd can stand against me?”

Therefore, hear what the Lord has planned against Babylon, what he has purposed against the land of the Babylonians: The young of the flock will be dragged away; their pasture will be appalled at their fate. At the sound of Babylon’s capture the earth will tremble; its cry will resound among the nations.

…

This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Babylon’s thick wall will be leveled and her high gates set on fire; the peoples exhaust themselves for nothing, the nations’ labor is only fuel for the flames.”

This is the message Jeremiah the prophet gave to the staff officer Seraiah son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, when he went to Babylon with Zedekiah king of Judah in the fourth year of his reign. Jeremiah had written on a scroll about all the disasters that would come upon Babylon—all that had been recorded concerning Babylon. He said to Seraiah, “When you get to Babylon, see that you read all these words aloud. Then say, ‘Lord, you have said you will destroy this place, so that neither people nor animals will live in it; it will be desolate forever.’ When you finish reading this scroll, tie a stone to it and throw it into the Euphrates. Then say, ‘So will Babylon sink to rise no more because of the disaster I will bring on her. And her people will fall.’”

The words of Jeremiah end here.