OUR GOD REIGNS!
Opening Prayer
Lord, Your people marvel at Your sovereignty over the nations.
Read JEREMIAH 51:33–64
33 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says:
“Daughter Babylon is like a threshing floor
at the time it is trampled;
the time to harvest her will soon come.”
34 “Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has devoured us,
he has thrown us into confusion,
he has made us an empty jar.
Like a serpent he has swallowed us
and filled his stomach with our delicacies,
and then has spewed us out.
35 May the violence done to our flesh be on Babylon,”
say the inhabitants of Zion.
“May our blood be on those who live in Babylonia,”
says Jerusalem.
36 Therefore this is what the Lord says:
“See, I will defend your cause
and avenge you;
I will dry up her sea
and make her springs dry.
37 Babylon will be a heap of ruins,
a haunt of jackals,
an object of horror and scorn,
a place where no one lives.
38 Her people all roar like young lions,
they growl like lion cubs.
39 But while they are aroused,
I will set out a feast for them
and make them drunk,
so that they shout with laughter—
then sleep forever and not awake,”
declares the Lord.
40 “I will bring them down
like lambs to the slaughter,
like rams and goats.
41 “How Sheshak will be captured,
the boast of the whole earth seized!
How desolate Babylon will be
among the nations!
42 The sea will rise over Babylon;
its roaring waves will cover her.
43 Her towns will be desolate,
a dry and desert land,
a land where no one lives,
through which no one travels.
44 I will punish Bel in Babylon
and make him spew out what he has swallowed.
The nations will no longer stream to him.
And the wall of Babylon will fall.
45 “Come out of her, my people!
Run for your lives!
Run from the fierce anger of the Lord.
46 Do not lose heart or be afraid
when rumors are heard in the land;
one rumor comes this year, another the next,
rumors of violence in the land
and of ruler against ruler.
47 For the time will surely come
when I will punish the idols of Babylon;
her whole land will be disgraced
and her slain will all lie fallen within her.
48 Then heaven and earth and all that is in them
will shout for joy over Babylon,
for out of the north
destroyers will attack her,”
declares the Lord.
49 “Babylon must fall because of Israel’s slain,
just as the slain in all the earth
have fallen because of Babylon.
50 You who have escaped the sword,
leave and do not linger!
Remember the Lord in a distant land,
and call to mind Jerusalem.”
51 “We are disgraced,
for we have been insulted
and shame covers our faces,
because foreigners have entered
the holy places of the Lord’s house.”
52 “But days are coming,” declares the Lord,
“when I will punish her idols,
and throughout her land
the wounded will groan.
53 Even if Babylon ascends to the heavens
and fortifies her lofty stronghold,
I will send destroyers against her,”
declares the Lord.
54 “The sound of a cry comes from Babylon,
the sound of great destruction
from the land of the Babylonians.
55 The Lord will destroy Babylon;
he will silence her noisy din.
Waves of enemies will rage like great waters;
the roar of their voices will resound.
56 A destroyer will come against Babylon;
her warriors will be captured,
and their bows will be broken.
For the Lord is a God of retribution;
he will repay in full.
57 I will make her officials and wise men drunk,
her governors, officers and warriors as well;
they will sleep forever and not awake,”
declares the King, whose name is the Lord Almighty.
58 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.”
59 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. 60 Jeremiah had written on a scroll about all the disasters that would come upon Babylon—all that had been recorded concerning Babylon. 61 He said to Seraiah, “When you get to Babylon, see that you read all these words aloud. 62 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.’ 63 When you finish reading this scroll, tie a stone to it and throw it into the Euphrates. 64 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.
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Meditate
Isn’t it reassuring to see that God has not been asleep at the wheel while the Babylonians have been spreading around all that misery?
Think Further
God’s harsh judgments make for uncomfortable reading—but think of all terrible wrongs which abound in our world. Don’t we long for those wrongs to get corrected? The message of this chapter reaches beyond the historical events of the exile. The words need to be read in the light of Christ’s future victory and God’s ultimate defeat of Babylon.
For the first time, we hear the voice of the people of Judah expressing their grief over what has happened (34,35). God responds, assuring them that their oppressors will be dealt with, and harshly. The famous “waters of Babylon” will be dried up (36). Literally or figuratively, Babylon will be destroyed by a tsunami-like disaster (42). Reliance on false gods will avail nothing (44,47,52). In contrast to his earlier encouragement to “settle down,” God now urges his people to flee the coming catastrophe and turn their thoughts to Jerusalem (45,50). The victorious, complacent Babylonians will soon find themselves swallowed up by the land expansion of the new kid on the block, Persia (“out of the north,” 48).
Jeremiah entrusts his final message to Seraiah, brother of the faithful scribe Baruch (59). The written threats against Babylon are to be read aloud, then dramatically thrown into the River Euphrates. As they sink, so surely will Babylon (63,64). Jeremiah’s task is complete (64). The enemy will be punished and the path to restoration made clear. In the breadth of the biblical narrative, God’s sovereign purposes of redemption, victory over evil, and ultimate divine triumph are made clear. These scenes do not qualify as easy reading, but in Jeremiah’s message there is encouragement for us, too, and reason to praise God today.
Apply
Think about today’s equivalent of yesterday’s Babylonians – nations that inflict mass misery upon millions – and how the God who does not change will deal similarly with them.
Closing prayer
Lord God, may Your will be done, Your kingdom come. For Yours is the power and the glory, forever and ever.
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