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Sunday 27 July 2014

Jeremiah 51 - The end of Babylon

So how would this destruction on Babylon take place? The Lord would stir up a destroyer against her. So just as the Lord had stirred up Babylon against Jerusalem, so He would stir up a nation against Babylon. It is the Lord who is control of history.
The nation would be utterly devastated, and Israel and Judah had not been forgotten. They had been judged, not forgotten, and judgement was not the end of God's plans. 
So when this started to happen Israel and Judah should flee from Babylon. Babylon's strength would be broken in an instant. We should never be overawed by those who appear to be powerful in the world.
Verse 11 makes it clear that it is the Medes who will defeat Babylon, and this was given some seventy years before it happened.
Verses 15,16 remind the people that the Lord is the maker of heaven and earth.
Verses 17-19 contrast the Lord with idols. The blacksmiths were the ones who made the idols, and the nation gloried in them. Yet idols are worthless and can do nothing, the Lord is the living God. Likewise, we need to be aware that our society will glory in things that are ultimately useless.
Babylon had been an instrument in the Lord's hand, but now the Lord would be against Babylon. She would suffer judgement for all her wrongs.
Babylon was not the home for God's people, so they care called out of her.
So Jeremiah's words end with the destruction of Babylon.

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