|
Dear Heavenly Father, Praise You said, “Behold, like a lion coming up from the thicket of the Jordan…I will suddenly make them run away from her, and I will appoint over her whomever I choose. For who is like me? Who will summon me? What shepherd can stand before me?” (Jer 50:44). I praise you today as the Great Shepherd, the Lion of the tribe of Judah. You are the King of kings and Lord of lords! All praise and honor to the King of glory! Hallelujah! Today in Your Word Today you told me about Jeremiah’s prophecy of the future destruction of Babylon. When you gave Jeremiah this prophecy, the Babylonian Empire was at the height of its power. Assyria and Egypt had been defeated, and Judah was firmly under the control of Nebuchadnezzar. Jerusalem had been sacked twice and most of the city’s inhabitants were in exile. To them, it must have seemed as though Babylon would last forever. But you are the sovereign God! You knew that Babylon’s days were numbered—like the scroll that Seraiah threw into the Euphrates, it would “sink to rise no more” (Jer 51:64). How encouraging to know that although evil may triumph for a time, it is destined to vanish forever beneath the waves of your judgment! Jeremiah’s prophecy compressed events that are separated by time: Babylon was overthrown by the Medo-Persian Empire in 539 bc, but the utter destruction of the city (Jer 50:39–40; 51:6, 26) and the promised restoration of both Israel and Judah (Jer 50:4–5, 19–20) has not yet been fulfilled. Jeremiah looked beyond the destruction of the Babylon of old to an eschatological destruction of a future Babylon. The destruction of that wicked city will be the climax of your judgment on the Gentile nations, and it will open the way for the fulfilling of your promises to Israel. This passage of Scripture teaches me several valuable lessons. First, you are just: “I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea before your very eyes for all the evil that they have done in Zion, declares the Lord” (Jer 51:24). Because you are just, you repay the wicked for their evil deeds. Second, you are all-powerful: “It is he who made the earth by his power, who established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the heavens” (Jer 51:15). The destruction of Babylon is nothing for the God who created the earth! Third, you answer prayer: “‘The violence done to me and to my kinsmen be upon Babylon,’ let the inhabitant of Zion say. ‘My blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea,’ let Jerusalem say. Therefore thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will plead your cause and take vengeance for you’” (Jer 51:35–36). It was right for the people to ask you for vengeance, and it was right for you to answer them, for you are the avenging God! Reflection Pride was one of Babylon’s chief sins (Jer 50:31–32). It brazenly “defied the Lord, the Holy One of Israel” (Jer 50:29). I need to remember that when I give in to pride, I’m siding with the Babylonians! Request Father, when the wicked seem to have their way in the world, help me remember that “God is not dead, nor doth he sleep. The wrong shall fail, the right prevail, With peace on earth, good will to men”! Thanksgiving Thank you for the message of your final triumph over the Babylon to come! In Jesus’ name, Amen. Suggested Hymn: “Prophetic Truth” — Daniel S. Warner. Meditation Verse: Jeremiah 51:45. |