SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/1/2014
10:22 AM
My Worship Time Focus: God Declares War on Babylon
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Jeremiah
50:1-28
Message of the
verses: There is a quote from the
MacArthur Study Bible that I would like to use first in this SD: “Concerning Babylon: The subject of chapters 50-51 (cf. Isa.
13:1-14:23; Hab. 2:6-17). Judgment
focuses on Media Persia’s conquest of Babylon in 539:B.C. The prediction of elements of violent
overthrow, which was not the case when Cyrus conquered since there was not even
a battle, points to greater fulfillment near the coming of Messiah in glory
when events more fully satisfy the description (cf. Rev. 17, 18).” Perhaps I should have mentioned this quote in
the introduction portion from our last SD, but I did think it was good to at
least add it here before we begin to look at the verses in chapter fifty. I have mentioned before that when the OT
prophets were prophesying about events that they did not know as to when they
would occur, and sometimes they had meanings in the near future and in the far
off future, the end times, and this made it more difficult to understand. We see this a lot in the prophecies concerning
our Lord Jesus Christ, for some prophecies were about His first coming and some
were about His second coming, and that is why the Jews in the time of His first
coming were looking for things to be fulfilled in His second coming when He was
first on earth. We mentioned that
Babylon was taken captive by the Medes and the Persians in 539 B. C. and the description
of this event is described in the fifth chapter of Daniel’s prophecy, and it
did take place in one night. We went
over what happened when we studied the book of Daniel. I began the study of the fifth chapter of
Daniel on July 16, 2013, and completed it on July 22, 2013.
God Speaks to and About the Jews (Jeremiah 50:1-10): “1 The word which the LORD spoke concerning
Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans, through Jeremiah the prophet: 2 “Declare
and proclaim among the nations. Proclaim it and lift up a standard. Do not
conceal it but say, ’Babylon has been captured, Bel has been put to shame,
Marduk has been shattered; Her images have been put to shame, her idols have
been shattered.’ 3 "For a nation
has come up against her out of the north; it will make her land an object of
horror, and there will be no inhabitant in it. Both man and beast have wandered
off, they have gone away! 4 "In
those days and at that time," declares the LORD, "the sons of Israel
will come, both they and the sons of Judah as well; they will go along weeping
as they go, and it will be
the LORD their God they will seek. 5 “They will ask for the way to Zion,
turning their faces in its direction; they will come that they may join
themselves to the LORD in
an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten. 6 “My people have
become lost sheep; Their shepherds have led them astray. They have made them
turn aside on the mountains; They have gone along from mountain to hill And
have forgotten their resting place. 7 “All who came upon them have devoured
them; And their adversaries have said, ’We are not guilty, Inasmuch as they
have sinned against the LORD who is the habitation of righteousness, Even the
LORD, the hope of their fathers.’ 8 “Wander away from the midst of Babylon And
go forth from the land of the Chaldeans; Be also like male goats at the head of
the flock. 9 "For behold, I am
going to arouse and bring up against Babylon A horde of great nations from the
land of the north, And they will draw up their battle lines against her; From
there she will be taken captive. Their arrows will be like an expert warrior
Who does not return empty-handed. 10
"Chaldea will become plunder; All who plunder her will have
enough," declares the LORD.”
God was declaring war against Babylon, and against her
gods, the gods named Bel and Marduk, and they would be shamefully
defeated. We saw this in the book of
Exodus when God declared war on Egypt and on her gods, and defeated them with
ten plagues, so we can see the attribute of God which is His Jealously in both
places. In verse two we see the words “idols” and also “images.” Dr. Wiersbe writes that the word idols means “wooden
blocks” and the word “image” means “dung Pellets.” From this description we can be sure that the
Lord did not think much of their gods.
Just as Nebuchadnezzar came from the north so would the invaders of
Babylon would also come from the north.
Speaking of the Jews in verses four through ten God saw
them as lost sheep who had been abused by their own shepherds, and also by
their captors. Now here is where we can
see two prophecies in this section for first of all God would bring the Jews
back to their land seventy years after their captive, and then in the end times
He would bring them back again which is the ultimate reference of this
passage. We are talking about when God
brings them back to live in the Millennial Kingdom which is seen in many
passages in both the Old and New Testaments.
The only thing added in the New Testament is the length of how long that
kingdom will be.
We also see in the passage that God tells His people to
flee from Babylon to avoid what He was about to do to her. Look at Isaiah 48:20 and Revelations
18:4: “20 Go forth from Babylon! Flee
from the Chaldeans! Declare with the sound of joyful shouting, proclaim this,
Send it out to the end of the earth; Say, "The LORD has redeemed His
servant Jacob."” “4 I heard another voice from heaven, saying,
"Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins
and receive of her plagues.”
God Speaks to Babylon (Jeremiah 50:11-13): “11
"Because you are glad, because you are jubilant, O you who pillage
My heritage, Because you skip about like a threshing heifer And neigh like
stallions, 12 Your mother will be
greatly ashamed, She who gave you birth will be humiliated. Behold, she will be
the least of the nations, A wilderness, a parched land and a desert. 13 “Because
of the indignation of the LORD she will not be inhabited, But she will be
completely desolate; Everyone who passes by Babylon will be horrified And will
hiss because of all her wounds.”
We know that God used Babylon to chasten Judah, but
Babylon took things too far, and this is why God is going to do to them what
they did to Judah. Let us look again at
Genesis 12:1-3 to see the promise that God gave to Abraham which applies to all
the Children of Israel: “1 Now the LORD
said to Abram, "Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And
from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; 2 And I will make you a great nation, And I
will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing;
3 And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who
curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be
blessed." All the families
of the earth have been blessed by the Lord Jesus Christ, who is a descendant of
Abraham, Jacob, Judah, and King David.
God Speaks to the Invading Armies (Jeremiah 50:14-16): “14 “Draw up your battle lines against
Babylon on every side, All you who bend the bow; Shoot at her, do not be
sparing with your arrows, For she has sinned against the LORD. 15 “Raise your battle cry
against her on every side! She has given herself up, her pillars have fallen,
Her walls have been torn down. For this is the vengeance of the LORD: Take vengeance on her; As she
has done to others, so do to her. 16
"Cut off the sower from Babylon And the one who wields the sickle
at the time of harvest; From before the sword of the oppressor They will each
turn back to his own people And they will each flee to his own land.”
Dr. Wiersbe writes “Just as Babylon has been God’s tool
to chasten Judah, so the invaders (Cyrus with the Medes and Persians and later
Alexander with his Greek army) would be God’s weapon to defeat Babylon. God spoke to the invading armies and
commanded them to get their weapons ready and shout for victory, because they
would win the battle. This was no ordinary
war; this was the ‘vengeance of the Lord’ (v. 15, NIV).” Although he does not mention the defeat of
Babylon during the end of the tribulation period, I believe that this also
speaks of that too.
God Speaks about the Jews (Jeremiah 50:17-20): “17 “Israel is a scattered flock, the lions
have driven them away. The first one who devoured him was the king of Assyria,
and this last one who has broken his bones is Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. 18
“Therefore thus
says the LORD of hosts, the
God of Israel: ’Behold, I am going to punish the king of Babylon and his
land, just as I punished the king of Assyria. 19 ’And I will bring Israel back to his pasture and
he will graze on Carmel and Bashan, and his desire will be satisfied in the
hill country of Ephraim and Gilead. 20 ’In those days and at that time,’ declares the
LORD, ’search will be made for the iniquity of Israel, but there will be none; and for the sins of
Judah, but they will not be found; for I will pardon those whom I leave as a remnant.’”
In Jeremiah 31:31 and following we read this: “31 “Behold, days are coming," declares
the LORD, "when I
will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah,
32 not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them
by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke,
although I was a husband to them," declares the LORD. 33 "But this is the covenant which I will
make with the house of Israel after those days," declares the LORD, "I will put My law within them
and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be
My people. 34 "They will not
teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ’Know the
LORD,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of
them," declares the LORD, "for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no
more."” We can see from
these verses the fulfillment of what Jeremiah writes in chapter fifty and
verses 17-20.
God Speaks to the Invaders (Jeremiah 50:21-27): “21 "Against the land of Merathaim, go
up against it, And against the inhabitants of Pekod. Slay and utterly destroy
them," declares the LORD, "And do according to all that I have
commanded you. 22 “The noise of battle is in the land, And great destruction. 23
“How the hammer of the whole earth Has been cut off and broken! How Babylon has
become An object of horror among the nations! 24 "I set a snare for you and you were also
caught, O Babylon, While you yourself were not aware; You have been found and
also seized Because you have engaged in conflict with the LORD." 25 The LORD has opened His armory
And has brought forth the weapons of His indignation, For it is a work
of the Lord GOD of hosts In the land of the Chaldeans. 26 Come to her from the
farthest border; Open up her barns, Pile her up like heaps And utterly destroy
her, Let nothing be left to her. 27 Put all her young bulls to the sword; Let
them go down to the slaughter! Woe be upon them, for their day has come, The
time of their punishment.”
In this section we see the Sovereignty of the Lord, as
all His plans for Babylon will take place as He has control of those who will
invade Babylon. We see that it is God
who brings out His weapons to fight, and when this happens the one whom God
uses His weapons on will always be defeated.
The Jewish Remnant Speaks (Jeremiah 50:28): “28 There is a sound of fugitives and
refugees from the land of Babylon, To declare in Zion the vengeance of the LORD
our God, Vengeance for His temple.”
Dr. Wiersbe writes:
“We hear the exiles who have fled the city and arrived in Judah as they
report the fall of Babylon. The ultimate
sin of the Babylonians was the burning of the temple, and for that sin the
ultimate total destruction of their city was their punishment.” God doesn’t always pay His bills when we
think they should be paid, but He always keeps His Word and with that pays His
bills, which is what He did and will do again to Babylon.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I want to focus
in on verse 7 “All who came upon them have devoured them; And their adversaries
have said, ’We are not guilty, Inasmuch as they have sinned against the LORD who is the habitation of
righteousness, Even the LORD, the hope of their fathers.” Who is the habitation of Righteousness, and
this is what the Lord is, for He is our righteousness, the ones who have
accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and Lord: “He
made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the
righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor. 5:21).”
God will keep all of the promises that He has made to the
children of Israel, and even today we can see that Israel is back in their
land, and I believe that she is there to stay, and hopefully very soon God will
take His Church out of the earth to heaven and will again focus totally on
Israel to fulfill all the rest of the things that He has planned for them.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Live with great Integrity as seen from Psalm
101.
Memory verses for the
week: Colossians 3:1-7.
1 Therefore if you have
been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is,
seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set
your mind on things above, not on the things that are on earth. 3 For you died and your life is hidden with
Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our
life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. 5 Therefore consider the members of your
earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed,
which amounts to idolatry. 6 For it is
because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of
disobedience; 7 and in them you once walked, when you were living in them.
Answer to our last Bible
question: “Cain and Able” (Genesis
4:1-2.
Today’s Bible
question: “What were Jewish religious
leaders called?
Answer in our next SD.
9/1/2014 11:41 AM
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