Jeremiah 51 -- Words Babylonians Surely Hated Hearing

God had used Babylon to take the people of Judah out of the land for seventy years, because His people did not keep the Sabbath years as God had commanded and they'd taken Him for granted.  But the Babylonians had not just done as God directed -- they'd enjoyed the destruction too much, and they'd burned God's Holy Temple to the ground.  He would not let such arrogance go unpunished.

Foreigners would soon arrive to destroy Babylon's army.  God not only had it planned, but He'd directed Cyrus, of the Medes and Persians, to accomplish His will.

God's faithfulness despite our sinfulness is again shown in verse 5:  "The Lord God All-Powerful did not leave Israel and Judah, even though they were completely guilty in the presence of the Holy One of Israel ... He will give Babylon the punishment she deserves."

I would have hated to have been a Babylonian and heard the things God had directed Jeremiah to have written on a scroll and announced in the city before the scroll was thrown into the river there:  "The Lord will certainly do what He has planned and what He said He would do against the people of Babylon ... I will surely fill you with so many enemy soldiers they will be like a swarm of locusts."

Today, we think that worshiping idols was really ridiculous back then, but we worship evil lifestyles instead.  God could see what we would one day do.  He said, "People are stupid and know so little ... But God, who is Jacob's Portion, is not like the idols.  He made everything, and He chose Israel to be His special people ... I will pay back Babylon and all the Babylonians for all the evil things they did to Jerusalem in your sight," says the Lord.  "I will make you a burned-out mountain [literally, an extinct volcano].  People will not find any rocks in Babylon big enough for cornerstones... Your city will be just a pile of ruins forever."

He had a message for the remaining Jewish exiles:  "You who have escaped being killed with swords, leave Babylon!  Don't wait!  Remember the Lord in the faraway land and think about Jerusalem."

There's a warning for all who fail to respect and obey and worship God today as well:  "The Lord is a God who punishes people for the evil they do.  He gives them the full punishment they deserve."  How thankful we should be that He provided a way to remove our sins onto the back of His own Son -- that He took the full brunt of God's wrath for us.  That we don't have to fear what the Babylonians were fearing if we have trusted Him.  Thank You, Father, for Your incredible mercy and grace.  Where would we be without it?

Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford