Jeremiah 51 | The Destiny of Babylon | 9.24.1997

So, we're starting a series tonight in chapter 51 that will probably take about six weeks. Actually, I plan on going through it tonight and we'll see what the Lord does. Beginning in verse one of Jeremiah chapter 51, let's read to verse four and go for it. All right. Thus says the Lord. Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, against those who dwell in Lebay, a destroying wind. And I will send winnowowers to Babylon, who shall winnow her and empty her land. For in the day of doom they shall be against her all around. Against her let the archer bend his bow and lift himself up against her in his armor. Do not spare her young men. Utterly destroy all her army. Thus the slain shall fall in the land of the calaldanss and those thrust through inner streets. And so Jeremiah is really continuing something that we picked up on in chapter 50, which is the judgment that is coming upon the mighty nation of Babylon. And even as God had judged and destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even so the mighty nation of Babylon is to be destroyed. And the ones who will be used by the Lord, and the Lord takes credit for this destruction, by the way, the one the ones who will be used by the Lord will be the Meo Persians. It was a union of the mees and the Persians and they're the ones who are going to come out against Babylon and they're the ones who are going to destroy her. So, we've already begun in chapter 50 to see that the Lord has spoken words of judgment against the mighty nation of Babylon. We continue that as we enter into chapter 51 with verse one. And he says again, thus says the Lord, behold, I will raise up against Babylon, against those who dwell in Lebiah, destroying wind. He's reiterating the fact that he's going to be sending against the Babylonians uh the Meo Meo Persian Union or Meo Persians who will destroy them. He speaks of them as being that a destroying wind. Now when he speaks about those who dwell in Lebi uh that is just a code name if you will that's just another name for the Calaldanss or for the Babylonians. Now, the Babylonians should have learned that God is a sovereign Lord over all creation. I want you to notice in verse one, the Lord said, "I will raise up against Babylon." So, this isn't a natural destruction. In other words, it's not just a a coalition that decided at a certain time to unite and come against the Babylonians. God takes full credit for this because the Lord is the sovereign Lord. And so he says,"I will raise up against Babylon." And he speaks a certain doom that really originates with him. Now the Babylonians should have known. They should have learned the lesson that God is a sovereign Lord over all creation because they had a mighty king by the name of Nebuchadnezzar. And Nebuchadnezzar had to be taught a lesson concerning the sovereignty of God. According to Daniel in chapter 4:17, the Lord is referred to here as being the sovereign Lord and he was to bring a judgment and was choosing to bring a judgment against Nebuchadnezzar as an example. And in Daniel 4:17, it says that the living may know that the most high is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes and sets over them the lowliest of men. The Bible teaches very distinctively and very much through Genesis to Revelation that God is the God of the universe and he is the sovereign Lord over everyone and everything. The Babylonians ought to have known that because their own king Nebuchadnezzar, the greatest king who ever lived, had been taught that lesson by God himself when he was driven mad for some seven years. Now God is raising up the Meo Persians. Now we wonder who are these people? These are people who were from the northwest in modern Iran and they're going to come and they're going to destroy Babylon under Darius the me and Cyrus the Persian. This particular destruction was accomplished according to history in 539 BC. So the enemies of Babylon accomplished the will of God in the destruction of Babylon. When he says in verse 5, for Israel is not forsaken nor Judah by his God, the Lord of hosts, though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel. We have another indication of God's mercy even as he brings judgment. You might want to note that in your own life. Our God is a merciful God. And our God according to scripture once again doesn't desire us to be destroyed. As a matter of fact, his desire is that we would turn from our wicked ways and turn to him so that he could forgive us of our sins and if this nation were to turn to God that he might heal our land. But the Bible teaches over and over again that God is a merciful, loving God. And God is judging even as we've gone through the book of Jeremiah and are about to complete it. God has been judging Israel because Israel was filled with idolatry and Israel had rejected him. And yet he's saying, "I haven't forsaken you. Even though you're filled with idolatry and even though you have rejected me, even though you've listened to your false prophets who are speaking to you visions of their own hearts, people who are coming and saying to you, "Thus sayeth the Lord," when they're really speaking visions of their own minds because I never sent them. I never gave them that message. Yet, they ran. And so the Lord has been speaking to us all through the book of Jeremiah. How he was bringing a certain judgment on the nation of Israel for listening to false prophets who were saying peace, peace when there is no peace. And yet God says so I will raise up destruction against you. And we've already gone through this how he had already prophesied and stated through Jeremiah that Babylon would come and Babylon would destroy them. And yet now he's saying one is going to come and destroy Babylon. the ones who destroyed Israel. And yet the Lord goes on to say, "I have not forsaken Israel." The Old Testament book of Joel in chapter 2:es 12-4. Joel gives us insight into the the Lord when he says, "Even now, declares the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning. Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. And notice, he relents from sending calamity. Who knows? He may turn and have pity and leave behind a blessing. Rend your hearts and not your garments. In other words, let the true repentance be from the inside, not just the outside. It's easy for me to put on a sad face to give the appearance of sorrow over my sin and during that day they would rend their garments. They would rip their garments to give that outward appearance. He said, "No, it's not the outward appearance that I'm concerned with. It's the inner heart." God isn't pleased. Anywhere in scripture, you'll never find an indication that God ever declares to be pleased with outer religion. He doesn't want a profession of faith. He wants a life of faith. He wants us to be yielded to him. And so he tells these people, he speaks to Israel and he says, "I haven't forsaken you. Israel is not forsaken nor Judah by his God, the Lord of hosts. Though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel. I haven't turned away from you completely. The Lord is saying, "I haven't forsaken you or abandoned you. I still love you." Like a father loves a child, like a husband like loves his wife, God would say, "I I I love you." And so as we look at this, the Lord is speaking judgment, but he's also saying that he is going to restore Israel. In verse six, it says, "Flee from the midst of Babylon, and everyone save his life. Do not be cut off in her iniquity, for this is the time of the Lord's vengeance. He shall recompense her." Babylon was a golden cup in the Lord's hand that made all the earth drunk. The nations drank her wine, and therefore the nations are deranged. Babylon has suddenly fallen and been destroyed. Whail for her. Take balm for her pain. Perhaps she may be healed. We would have healed Babylon, but she's not healed. Forsake her and let us go, everyone, to his own country. For her judgment reaches to heaven and is lifted up to the skies. The Lord has revealed our righteousness. Come and let us declare in Zion the work of the Lord our God. When he says to us in verse 6, "Flee from the midst of Babylon and everyone save his life," the obvious point is, "It's time to leave, guys. It's time to leave this place and leave it immediately." Why? Because the Lord is about to pour out his wrath through these nations that are going to conquer. In the Old Testament book of Naom in chapter 1:6, the Bible says, "Who can stand before his indignation? Who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? His fur is poured out like fire and the rocks are thrown down by him. Who can abide in the day of the Lord? Who can stand there when God is angry? And so the Lord is saying, I'm going to be pouring out judgment. I'm going to use the Meo Persians. And he's saying to those who there who are the Jews who are there remaining in Babylon, he's saying, you need to get out and you need to get out now. In verses 7 and 8, he speaks of Babylon being a golden cup in the Lord's hand. He says that made all the earth drunk. In other words, the nations of the world that were familiar with Babylon would see that she had wealth and she had power and they were basically as they saw this power and this wealth, they would admire that. But the bottom line is for her there's not going to be any help. She was once used by God as a a judgment, an instrument of judgment, but now she herself will suffer the judgment of God. when in verses 9 and 10 he says we would have healed Babylon but she's not healed forsake her and let us go everyone it was Babylon that had put Israel into subjection but Babylon never embraced the God of Israel she never heard the things that the Jews who were even captive in her land had to say you know though the Jews were taken and moved off into a foreign land and even had people mocking them, saying, "Sing for us the songs of your land, those happy songs that we've heard you sing before in times past. Sing them for us now." Even though the Jews had been taken captive, they could still be used by the Lord to turn a nation. I can't help but think about Daniel in the Old Testament book of Daniel, a young man, some say as young as 14 years old. When Nebuchadnezzar in 605 BC made his first incursion against the nation of Israel and he took when he first came in which was the way that the ancient kings he took the prime he took the best that the nation had to offer. He gutted the nation of its of its nobility. And so he took Daniel and quite a number of other young people with him. And Daniel was there being raised in the ways of the Babylonians. But he never embraced those ways. Even to his old age in his 90s, he never became a Babylonian even though they took the name Daniel and they gave him a new name and they gave him a Babylonian education. They tried to give him a Babylonian diet and they raised him under Babylonian law and he was only 14 years of age. Even so, Daniel knew his God and was mighty before the Lord and God showed favor to him. And Daniel was used Daniel was used in marvelous ways. And we when we get to the book of Daniel in a few years, we'll look at him very carefully. But Daniel was used in many ways. One one way, let me give you just one thought, and I have to be careful. This isn't in my notes, and I don't want to really get too far a field, but Daniel was one of those who were in the Nebuchadnezzar's court. The Calaldanss is another name for Babylonians. But also the Calaldanss, the name Calaldian refers to a priestly class of Babylonians. Within the priestly class of the Calaldanss are those whom we have heard of who are called the Magi. The Magi we know from the book of Matthew. the book of Matthew speaking concerning the magi who came from the east, wise men, who wanted to come and know of this Messiah who was to be born. You ever asked yourself the question, how did they know that there was a Messiah to be born in the nation of Israel? Where did they get this learning from? Where did these magi come? The magi came from Babylon. Where did they get the number? Where did they get the rather the uh the idea of this Messiah? They got it from Daniel. Daniel had left a witness. And in Daniel's witness of the Jewish scripture and the ministry of Jehovah God to the nation of Israel and leaving that testimony behind in the priestly class of the Calaldanss and them being aware of the prophecy of Balum who in the book of Numbers spoke about a star that would arise and a scepter that would come out of Jacob. And they were able to take this and and this understanding that had been imparted to them by a man who had been taken captive in 605 BC. And as they held on to this that was given to them by this wise man by the name of Daniel who never became a magi but indeed did influence those magi. They were able to know through waiting and trusting the things that had been told to them through one of God's own people who was there in captivity in Babylon. And they waited until they saw this sign and knew it was time for Messiah who according to their tradition from the Calaldanss who got that from Daniel. They knew that it was time. And so the Calaldian people could have been influenced. The Babylonians had the Jewish nation in captivity. a people who were to be the people of God. And some undoubtedly who had been taken, Daniel being one and some of his friends being others, had remained faithful to God. And yet the Babylonians never did embrace the God of Israel. And that's what's taking place here when it says in verse 9, we would have healed Babylon, but she's not healed. We could have brought her to a saving knowledge of Jehovah God, yet she refused the things that we had. So forsake her. Let us everyone uh let us go everyone to his own country. For her judgment reaches to heaven lifted up to the skies. The Lord has revealed our righteousness. Come and let us declare in Zion the work of the Lord our God. In other words, it's time to leave. Even though Babylon subjugated Israel, they could have embraced the God of Israel, but they did not. And thus they'll be judged. Now in verses 11-4, make the arrows bright. Gather the shields. The Lord has raised up the spirit of the kings of the Mes. For his plan is against Babylon to destroy it because it is the vengeance of the Lord. Now notice the vengeance for his temple. Set up the standard on the walls of Babylon. Make the guard strong. Set up the watchmen. Prepare the ambushes. For the Lord has both devised and done what he spoke against the inhabitants of Babylon. Oh you who dwell by many waters abundant in treasures, your end has come. The measure of your covetousness, the Lord of hosts has sworn by himself. Surely I will fill you with men as with locusts and they shall lift up a shout against you. So when he says, "Make the arrows bright. Gather the shields. The Lord has raised up the spirit of the kings." In other words, when he says, "Make the arrows bright. Sharpen your arrows. get ready to destroy Babylon. And this ar the armies that are going to come against Babylon are described as swarming like locusts because they're about to be judged and they're going to be judged for the sake of God's temple because they had come into the nation of Israel and had desecrated and had destroyed it. You see that in the chapter chapter 52. Let's look there very briefly here for a moment of Jeremiah. Jeremiah 52:es 12 and 13. In the fifth month, on the 10th day of the month, which was the 19th year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, Nebuchareran, the captain of the guard who served the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. He burned the house of the Lord and the king's house. All the houses of Jerusalem, that is all the houses of the great men, he burned with fire. So, they came in and not only did they burn it, but later on, you'll see in the same chapter, they actually pillaged. And so the Lord is saying, "I haven't forgotten what you did to my temple. I haven't forgotten that you came in." Now remember something about the temple. This is where God says, "I have placed my name and this is where I will meet with the nation of Israel." So the temple of God had been established by God as a meeting place with the people of God. And when the Gentiles, when the Babylonians came in, though they were allowed by God to bring judgment on the nation, yet God has not forgotten what they did to the place of meeting. And so he says, I'm going to bring them against you. And he says it specifically uh for the vengeance, he said there in verse 11, for the vengeance for my temple. I'm going to deal with you for what you've done. And so judgment is coming and it is sure. In verse 15, he has made the earth by his power. He has established the world by his wisdom. Stretch out the heaven by his understanding. When he utters his voice, there's a multitude of waters in the heavens. He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth. He makes lightnings for the rain. He brings the wind out of his treasuries. At this point, Jeremiah simply is reminding us who's boss. And it certainly isn't the Meo Persian Empire and it more most certainly isn't Babylon and it isn't Jeremiah. It's God. God is boss. And so he's speaking concerning the sovereignty of God here. Now I want you to notice something in verse 15 just very briefly here just to touch it for a moment. He has made the earth by his power. He has established the world by his wisdom. Stretched out the heaven by his understanding. The understanding of scripture is that God created everything. According to the book of Hebrews in the New Testament, chapter 3 at verse 4, I believe, every house is built by some man, but he who built all things, the Bible says, is God. Every house is built by some man. And we all understand that obviously. So, you're driving through this field and there's a sign that's placed up on this field. coming soon, such and so homes, you know, you know, Fairfield Estates or whatever, and you drive by what has been an empty field, and then maybe you come by for some business 3 weeks later and you see the dozers in there, and you see the people are are preparing this place. Then you come back maybe four weeks later and you start seeing that it's got some curbing now and you see that they've already put in sewage and everything like that. and maybe another month and you start seeing the frames going up and there's some model homes now. And all of us understand that every house is built by some man. We know that somebody didn't come and just throw some house seeds there and some curb seeds there and all of that. We know that somebody did that. Somebody designed that. Somebody uh brought the materials in for that. Somebody took the time to build that. And we know that and we give due credit to the builder, the architect, and everybody else involved. And it's a funny thing to me that we can do that. We can speak about designers, even give them citations, awards for their kind of work and design and all of that. And then we fail to realize that something as incredible and intricate as a universe. We fail to give proper glory due to the one who put everything into order. What an incredible universe we live in. What an amazing thing this world really is. And we just never really think about it. I think possibly because we have seen so many wonderful things and because we experience so many things that are sensory oriented, it's difficult for us to embrace the reality of the incredibleness of of creation. It's very difficult now. I think that we're saturated as a generation the last 50 years especially with pictures and noises. I was sharing with this re with you recently. I mean, you can go to theaters now and you can see, you know, in some theater houses, you know, screens, you know, 60 ft high now with a surround sound. That is incredible. You can actually just be vibrated basically out of the chair, you know, and to me, that's really still amazing. And you can really get right into that. and some of the rides that you've been on perhaps in in theme parks and all where you actually are just sitting there, but you have the the illusion that you're traveling through space and you're going through things and shaking and you feel gusts of wind and it really confuses your senses. But when we who have been raised in this way, we even who who are adults, you know, we we we get our thrills from and we enjoy the experiences of this, we fail to realize that it's calloused us to some very basic things. It's callous to some very basic realities and we've watched these shows and we've seen the Grand Canyon uh from you know an airplane that has flown through it and and the noise and the sound and all of the experience and that's why it's difficult if you're a parent and you take your kids to the Grand Canyon and they walk up and they look down into this incredible deep canyon and you're standing there going, "Wow, isn't this cool?" And they scratch their heads and they say, "Let's get out of here. It's just a hole in the ground because they have seen this, you know, in a variety of ways that it's much more exciting than standing at the edge looking down. And so we have been filled as human beings with so many senses, sensory experiences that our senses are overloaded. And it's difficult for us sometimes to just take a few moments to go outside perhaps after it's had a nice cleaning rain and you get a lawn chair. I'll do this every blue moon and I'll put a lawn chair in my backyard and I'll sit there after it's rained, put on a nice warm jacket in the backyard and I just look up and I think look what those are. Stars. I haven't seen those in so long. Wow. What's that? Oh, that's the moon. And it actually you sometimes have to return to some very very basic things to begin to get the idea of what Jeremiah is trying to remind us of in a very simple way. He's simply saying God created everything, guys. And never forget that it isn't the Meo Persians who are coming on their own because they have some incredibly brilliant generals who are strategizing and and have had their uh spies into Babylon and they know it's the right time and Babylon's ripe for falling. No, God is God is saying, "No, I've chosen this time myself." And it isn't the brilliance of the generals of the Meo Persians. God is saying, "I'm bringing judgment." And Babylon has been a powerful nation some 70 years. is the most powerful nation the world has ever seen. You remember the the dream that Nebuchadnezzar has in the book of Daniel where he is the head of gold very powerful the the most powerful nation that ever existed on the face of the earth is the Babylonian nation and God is saying uh I am going to bring a judgment against them a coalition of the Mes and the Persians who will come against them and will bring judgment and God is telling him why he's saying because I am the one I am God is saying I am the Lord I created hated all things. I take care of business when it's time for business to be taken care of. And that's what Jeremiah is is reporting to us in verses 15 and 16. In verse 17, everyone is dull-hearted without knowledge. Every metalmith is put to shame by the carved image, for his molded image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. They are feudal, a work of errors. In the time of their punishment, they shall perish. The portion of Jacob is not like them, for he is the maker of all things, and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance, and the Lord of hosts is his name. And so in verses 17-9, Jeremiah just takes a moment to compare idolatry and these graven images, which are the work of men's hands, with God who made all things. And he's simply saying, uh, everyone in verse 17 is dull-hearted without knowledge. Every metal shift, uh, metal smith is put to shame by the carved image. His molded image is falsehood. He's just simply saying idols have no power to save. He's already mocked idolatry. Those of you who've been going through Jeremiah with me know he's already stated concerning the idols that they're worthless. You may have feet on them, but they can't walk anywhere. They may have eyes, but they never see anything. They may have a nose, they can't smell anything, mouth, but they can't speak. They got hands, but they can't reach out and save you. You may take all your time, and you might want to carve them up, but the fact of the matter is, there's nothing in them that can help you. God who created all things. He's the one to turn to in your time of need. And so that's the point that he's made already. And so he's saying everyone's dull-hearted without knowledge. They're put to shame by their carved image. Why? Because God can't be fashioned by men's hands. He certainly isn't the fabric of our imagination. He is most certainly God which is beyond everything. And so these are impotent idols and they can't save them in their time of destruction. And when the Meo Persians come against Babylon, they can run in front of those little idols all they want and burn their incense or cry out to them or do whatever they want. Pick it up and hit some soldier who comes in the in the room, but it isn't going to help because they're going to be destroyed. In Isaiah 47:es 13 and 14, this particular scripture here is for Dion Warwick in Isaiah 47:13 and 14. She's still looking for San Jose, as far as I know. All the counsel you have received has only worn you out. Let your astrologers come forward. Those stargazers who make predictions month by month, let them save you from what is coming upon you. Surely they are like stubble. The fire will burn them up. They cannot even save themselves from the power of the flame. Here are no coals to warm anyone. Here is no fire to sit by. Let your astrologers, these stargazers, save you when your trouble comes upon you. So you pick up one newspaper and you know your sign and you read it and it says, "Oh, you're going to have a great time this month. Today's a good day." And so you go somewhere else and you're a believer, a true believer in this stuff. And you find a newspaper from a different county. Well, say you got the LA Times and you read that, "Oh, it's going to be my lucky day." And then you read the Orange County Register and this other person says, "Stay in the house." And you go, "Oh no, I'm already out of the house. What should I do?" Well, you go out and get the Tribune, I guess, and you try and find out what they have to say because none of them agree with one another. Every one of them are just predictors and every one of them are false. And idolatry is a false thing because you're putting your trust in something with no power to save. Now, back in verses 20- 23, Jeremiah is speaking to his wife here. You are my battle axe. No, just kidding. He wasn't married. You are my battle axe and weapons of war. For with you I will break the nation in pieces. With you I will destroy kingdoms. With you I will break in pieces the horse and its rider. With you I will break in pieces the chariot and its rider. With you also I'll break in pieces man and woman. With you I will break in pieces old and young. With you I will break in pieces the young man and the maiden. With you also I will break in pieces the shepherd and his flock. With you I will break in pieces the farmer and his yoke of oxen and with you I will break in pieces governors rulers. And so he's speaking of the Meo Persians the armies that are to come against Babylon. And simply is saying you are a weapon. You are a weapon in my hand and with you I will destroy Babylon. Verses 24- 26. I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Calaldia for all the evil they have done in Zion in your sight, says the Lord. Behold, I am against you, oh destroying mountain who destroys all the earth, says the Lord. I will stretch out my hand against you, roll you down from the rocks, make you a burnt mountain. They shall not take from you a stone for a corner, nor a stone for a foundation. You shall be desolate forever, says the Lord. God is simply saying, "I'm going to destroy you and I will make you an example." He states that he's going to make Babylon desolate forever. This has to have a dual application. And I think you see the absolute fulfillment of this in the book of Revelation because in the book of Revelation, you have mystery Babylon referred to in Revelation both chapters 17 and 18. And as we're studying through the Revelation, we'll be getting there and we'll be spending some time in detail looking at mystery Babylon. But in Revelation 18:es 4-8, I think you see the fulfillment of this in the most literal literal way. We know that even now Babylon is being rebuilt by Saddam Hussein. And so this has to have a dual application because the Lord is speaking about being desolate forever. And so this would have to refer to what is going to take place as we see in Revelation 18. Now in verses 4-8, John who is writing the book of revelation says,"I heard another voice from heaven say,"Come out of her my people so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues, for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes. Give back to her as she has given. Pay her back double for what she has done. Mix her a double portion from her own cup. give her as much torture and grief as the glory and luxury she gave herself. In her heart she boasts, I sit as queen, I am not a widow, and I will never mourn. And therefore, in one day her plagues will overtake her, death, mourning, and famine. She will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the Lord God who judges her. And so the Lord will fulfill this word against Babylon. And I believe you see the literal fulfillment of that in the Revelation 18. God says he's going to destroy Babylon. Verses 27 following to verse 33. Set up a banner in the land. Blow the trumpet among the nations. Prepare the nations against her. Call the kingdoms together against her. Ararat Mini Ashkenaz. Appoint a marshall against her. Cause the horses to come up. Come up like bristling locusts. prepare against her the nations with the kings of the Mes, its governors, and all its rulers, all the land of his dominion, and the land will tremble in sorrow. For every purpose of the Lord shall be performed against Babylon, to make the land of Babylon a desolation without inhabitant. The mighty men of Babylon have ceased fighting. They have remained in their strongholds. Their might has failed. They became like women. They've burned her dwelling places. The bars of her gate are broken. One runner will run to meet another and one messenger to meet another to show the king of Babylon that his city's taken on all sides. The passages are blocked. The reads have they have burned with fire and the men of war are terrified. For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, the daughter of Babylon, is like a threshing floor. When it is time to thresh her, yet a little while and the time of her harvest will come. incredible poetic way of just describing to us total destruction, absolute total destruction that will come upon this land. So, the nations are summoned to fight against Babylon because the Lord says it's now time for her judgment. Now, notice verse 28 because verse 28 indicates that they are set apart for this task even though it's a work of the Lord. He speaks in verse 27 of a people of Ararat, Mini, and Ashkinaz. These are people who live in what is now called Armenia and they are rising up against and they are being used in a coalition to destroy. In verse 29, he said, "Every purpose of the Lord shall be performed against Babylon." In other words, when God makes a decision, who can stop him? If you think you can, that's an interesting thought. There are some people who believe they can. They can stop God. Have you ever had a conversation with somebody who believes that they're greater than God? Anybody who doesn't know Jesus Christ believes they're greater than God. Anybody who's not a Christian believes they're better than Jesus. Anybody who hasn't come to know Jesus Christ believes they can save themselves, which is a real dangerous place to be. Don't you think? It's like having 500 lb of leg weights on in the middle of the ocean saying, "Don't worry, I can get out." It doesn't make any sense. And so God says, "Listen, I'm going to do something and no man can stop me. I'm going to do something. I'm going to bring judgment." And it's sure, I can use these people in a coalition because I choose to use people to do so. But the bottom line is God says is, "I'm taking credit for this. I'm bringing judgment. My purposes shall be fulfilled. One of the things that blesses me, by the way, is as we know, Babylon did fall. I mean, that's a matter of historical record. We know that. We know the Meo Persians came in 539 and destroyed them. That's a matter of historical record. It's something that was done centuries ago. But you know what it does to me? It gives me hope in the word of the Lord because what he says that he could do then, he can still do now. And so God is able not only to bring judgment, which obviously he did against the nation rejecting him, but God is also true to his promise to bring salvation. And so with the same God who says, I promise I will bring this judgment, there is also the same God who said, but if you turn to me in faith, I will give you salvation. So as I read these words of judgment and I know that they indeed took place, I also read the words of promise that God gives to me for salvation in his son Jesus Christ, the one who saves me from the wrath to come. And in that I have great hope because my God who brings judgment according to his word also extends mercy to those who are willing to receive from him. In verse 34, Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, this is Israel's complaint by the way. Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, has devoured me. He has crushed me. He has made me an empty vessel. He swallowed me up like a monster. He's filled his stomach with my delicacies. He has spit me out. Let the violence done to me and my flesh be upon Babylon. The inhabitant of Zion will say, and my blood be upon the inhabitants of Calaldia, Jerusalem will say, Therefore, thus says the Lord, behold, I will plead your case and take vengeance for you. I will dry up her sea and make her springs dry. Babylon shall become a heap, a dwelling place for jackals, an astonishment, and a hissing without an inhabitant. They shall roar together like lions. They shall growl like lion's welps in their excitement. I will prepare their feasts. I will make them drunk that they may rejoice and sleep a perpetual sleep and not awake, says the Lord. I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with male goats. Now, Israel is complaining and she's revealing what has occurred to her through the conquering of the nation of Babylon. But God gives a word for the final fate of Babylon. He says she's going to be like a drunk who falls asleep and never wakes up. Some of us have seen people who have overmbied alcoholic beverages. And you've seen them staggering around looking for a place to sit down. They get all hot and they're all sweaty and they start untying their tire or unbuttoning their shirt and they, man, it's hot in here. Is the heater on? No. Oh, well, you know what? I just need to sit down for a minute. And then they go and they find some place and sit on some kid they didn't see. And the kid screams and or you take them and you say, "Why don't you go in the room and what do we used to say and sleep it off? Why don't you go sleep it off?" They go into the other room and they collapse on the bed and they just lay like that. And that's the picture the Lord is giving here. Interesting picture. He says they're like a drunk staggering around. A drunk that's so polluted that he finally just falls down. But in this sleep, he never awakens again because judgment comes upon them as surely as God's word says it. Now I find it interesting when he says, "I will make them drunk that they may rejoice and sleep a perpetual sleep and not awake. I," he said, "will bring them down." So the Lord does this. The Lord brings them down. We have something going on. I'll just touch this for about a minute. Something going on right now that is called the quote unquote, and I say this in quotes, and some of you already know this so I can allude to this rapidly and move on. It's called the what is being called the Toronto blessing. And in it, there are people who do exactly what Jeremiah is talking about, which I find very interesting. In it, he's they they roar like lions. Uh I have some tapes that were put out by the Christian Research Institute with Hank Hanigraph. And the opening of the first tape, you can hear these people doing this. They roar like lions. Not only do they they do that, they also claim that they have been made drunk. They stagger around and interestingly they'll fall on the ground and sometimes they'll lay there for three or four hours or even longer. And it's an interesting thing though I wouldn't go so far as to be put on the limb saying I think it's the identical thing. But I find it interesting to note that these kinds of things are actually attributed to God who brings judgment, not blessing. Now isn't that interesting? At least in the book of Jeremiah, that's your context. He says again in verse 38, "They shall roar like lions. They shall growl like lion's welps. In their excitement, I will prepare their feast. I will make them drunk that they may rejoice and sleep of perpetual sleep and not awake. I will bring them down." Interesting. Interesting. Um, just so that you may know, and I think it's pretty clear here in this fellowship, uh, I, for one, have a very strong disagreement with what is being purported to be a movement of the Holy Spirit. I do not believe for a minute that what has been taking place up in Toronto or what is taking place in Pensacola or much of what I see on what is called Christian TV is I do not believe that to be genuine whatsoever. I believe that to be uh nonscriptural and suspect and something to remain away from and not part of. I have gotten invited recently as a pastor for this church. I've been invited recently to invite all of you to two different things. One is to a Benny Hinn thing that's taking place in November and another is to some quote unquote revival thing that's taking place in Anaheim with the Pensacola, Florida group that is u saying that God is visiting them with incredible signs and wonders and powers the Holy Spirit and and and I did not invite you to I will not take you to and I do not encourage you to go to anything like that. Why? Because it's I believe as I've been studying this looking at it closely that it is not of the Lord at all but is a work of flesh. And so I would never encourage you to be part of anything like that because I truly do believe that uh it isn't Jesus Christ who's being exalted but the people who are involved doing these kinds of things. And it's an action of the flesh. And I do find it interesting, though I wouldn't say it's identical, but I find it interesting to note that the roaring and the walking around like the ones who are drunk and the falling down in a perpetual kind of sleep is not attributed whatsoever to God blessing, but rather God bringing judgment, which should cause us some concern as we see these things that take place and been and begin attributing them to the the work of the Holy Spirit in verse 41. Oh, how Shash is taken. Oh, how the praise of the whole earth is seized. Shash is another name for Babylon, by the way. how Babylon has become desolate among the nations. The sea has come up over Babylon. She's covered with the multitude of its waves. Her cities are a desolation, a dry land and a wilderness, a land where no one dwells, through which no son of man passes. I will punish Bell. Bell was the name of one of the gods of of Babylon. And I will bring out of his mouth what he has swallowed, and the nations shall not stream to him anymore. Now notice, yes, the wall of Babylon shall fall. Now obviously this is something that took place during that day. The wall of Babylon, he said, shall fall. Now, as you read that, you may not be thinking too much of it. Well, that's that's fine. You say, so the wall is going to come down. And we're thinking perhaps of our our our block walls around our house. Maybe you have a block wall 5T high and maybe, you know, 50 feet across, you know, 8 in wide or whatever. And you think, "Yeah, the wall's going to come down." That's not what he's talking about. The wall of Babylon enclosed some 200 square miles of the city. 200 square miles of city was enclosed by the wall of Babylon. And the wall of Babylon actually was a double wall. And I have some things for you here. It was built what is called a double construction. It had an outer wall that was 12 ft thick. and it lay 23 ft from the inner wall which was 21 ft thick. It was wide enough to allow several chariots to drive a breast at least four could drive next to each other across it around it. There were towers that were set into the walls at intervals of some 60 ft. Outside the walls lay a ditch lined with bricks and kept filled with water from the Euphrates. And as I said a moment moment ago, it surrounded an area of 200 square miles. And when the Lord says the wall of Babylon shall fall, that's a tremendous statement of what God's judgment is going to do. He's saying this incredible impenetrable wall that you guys have trusted in, that the Babylonians have trusted in is nothing in the sight of the Lord is going to go down so easily, it's not even funny. And yet, it's one of the one of the uh incredible structures of the ancient world that people still marvel over. Incredible structure. It was so high. It was so wide. It was so powerful. And yet the Lord says, "No, it's nothing to me. I'm going to destroy it." In verse 45, my people, go out of the midst of her. Let everyone deliver himself from the fierce anger of the Lord, lest your heart faint, and you fear for the rumor that will be heard in the land. A rumor will come one year, and after that in another year a rumor will come, and violence in the land, ruler against ruler. And therefore, behold, the days are coming that I will bring judgment on the carved images of Babylon. Her whole land shall be ashamed, and all her slain shall fall in her midst. Then the heavens and the earth and all that is in them shall sing joyously over Babylon. For the plunderers shall come to her from the north, says the Lord. And again, he's saying God's people are warned. They need to flee the doomed city because disaster is about to strike and they're going to need to remain faithful to God and have courage uh as they wait for him to fulfill his word. But Babylon indeed is about to fall. As Babylon has caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon the slain of all the earth shall fall. You who have escaped the sword, get away. Do not stand still. Remember the Lord a far off and let Jerusalem come to your mind. We are ashamed because we have heard reproach. Shame has covered our faces. For strangers have come into the sanctuaries of the Lord's house. Therefore, behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that I will bring judgment on her carved images, and throughout all her land, the wounded shall groan. Though Babylon were to mount up to heaven, and and though she were to fortify the height of her strength, yet from me plunderers would come to her, says the Lord. Babylon is about to fall, the Lord is simply saying, and there's nothing that can be done to stop it. Now notice what they say in verse 51. Let's look at that for just a moment because it says in verse 51, "We are ashamed because we heard we've heard reproach. Shame has covered our faces for strangers have come into the sanctuaries of the Lord's house." The Jews are ashamed because they think how their sin was the cause of the temple's defilement. You know what really grieves me, guys? And I'm sure that some of you would say it grieves you, too. I've said this so many times. Maybe you think that you've already heard this, and maybe you even get bored with me repeating it to you, but it's so true. What really bothers me is when I see buildings that we call churches that have been dedicated to the Lord, places that have been built to the glory of God, places that had worship celebrations in. you know, you completed the building. You went out there and somebody saw an open parcel of land. Maybe it was a pastor who had come into a town and he he was thinking, you know, this place needs a good evangelical witness for the Lord Jesus Christ. And maybe he went off to his house and he spoke to his wife and he said to his wife, you know, honey, I I was just in such and so place and as I was driving through, I just sensed that the Lord wants to do a work there. And maybe he went in and maybe he went and he he planted a church. And as he planted that church, you know, doing little work, maybe he put on a bulletin board in certain places, laundromats and in stores and things like that, Bible study, Wednesday night, come and be taught the word of God. Maybe one or two or three or five people showed up and before you know it, they've been going for a few months and there's now 10, 15, 20, 30, 40, 50, 100. They're beginning to look around for a place to meet because they don't, you know, they're not able to use the Y anymore. The there's no place for them. And so they finally, this pastor's been driving and he drives through this empty lot. He sees this this ground and as he looks at the ground, he says, "Father, is that the place for us? I I I I dare not even think that it is. Lord, we've only got a hundred people and they're asking X amount of dollars for it and we don't have the money for something like that. And Lord, I I don't want to go back to the people and say, "Oh, we have to get into a building project cuz Lord, you you know, where you guide, you provide, and thus I don't want to be begging." And yet, Lord, it's burning in my heart to do something in this town. And I see you moving in these people. He gets down on his knees and he prays and he says, "God, in Jesus name, do a work that only you can be glorified by." And he goes to the people and he says to them, I just want you to know I'm praying about buying some property. You know what? It's x amount of dollars and we really can't afford it. But I just really believe God wants to do something there. The Lord begins to meet financial needs through no pressure. People just have a vision in their heart and they give and before you know it, he's there. He goes and he says, "I'd like to purchase your land." And maybe the guy who's selling it says, "What for?" And he says, "Well, we're Christians." Well, what kind of Christians? We're Bible believing Christians. We like to study the word of God. Oh, really? Where are you from? Well, I'm from such and so. Oh, really? Yeah, I've heard of that. Yeah. Well, you know what? I'm a Christian myself and I dedicated this property to God when I bought it. And to be honest with you, I was waiting to use it myself, but you you want to use it for God's glory? Yes. Well, I'd like to come to one of your Bible studies and see what you guys are all about. So, the owner comes and he sits in there. He listens to the Bible study. He likes the guy who's pastoring. He likes the people there and he says, "You know what? I'm going to give you this property basically for just a little bit. I have to get a little out of it for myself, but you know what? I'm going to give you a deal for this. Everybody rejoices. Oh, bless the Lord. And off they go. And they begin to build. And before you know it, there's a small sanctuary there. They've got a few rooms here for the kids. They've got something for the babies. And there they are. And their very first day and they're all there together. And they're so excited and they and they're just wanting to praise the Lord. The worship team is out there singing and the and the pastor is out there and he's got tears in his eyes and saying, "Oh, look at God has done. Isn't it amazing? Isn't it exciting? This has happened many times over. And then something occurs in that church and before you know it, the fire is gone. The people leave. It's abandoned. It's bordered up. It begins to be graffitied. And it's now gone. And every once in a while, people who used to be part of that church drive by and they see it all boarded up and they look to one another and they say, "I remember We used to go there and I remember when that church fell and I remember how the pastor was accused of something and we all believed that he'd done it and we all left him there and he didn't do it because it all came out and look what we've done. We ruined a work of God. I can multiply these. I've just told you stuff that are actually true stories wrapped up into one illustration. I have a very very affectionate relationship with a young man who was an assisting pastor of one of my dear friends. And he was accused by a member of the church, a woman of sexual overtures. And because the senior pastor didn't respond as quickly as this woman thought, she went and spoke to the head of the churches, the denominational leader, and said, "This pastor is not doing anything about it. His assistant did something. He needs to be dealt with, and I'm not going to rest until justice is done." Make a very long story short, the senior pastor fired this assistant pastor. On the basis of this woman's accusation and her threat to do something about it, this guy who was a dear friend to me basically bounced from place to place, place to place until he settled into a church to heal. And it took him several years, I'd say minimally three to four years of just being seated in another church. Then one day the Holy Spirit spoke to his heart and said, 'You need to go back to your pastor who fired you and sit in that church with him and he did. And so he and the senior pastor were reconciled. But this guy was still sitting. Now this is a man who I can tell you from personal experience loved his pastor. And there he was after about four years of basically choosing to go someplace else. And do you want to know something? Last year, the woman recanted. She had never been in any way sexually touched, propositioned. She had lied and ruined his life, ruined his ministry because she was mad. It happens. People's churches are destroyed and people are so quick to listen to the lie. They're so quick to say, "Yep, I I thought he could do that." And bang, he's out the door. Israel knew that they had sinned. Israel knew what they had done. Israel said, "We are responsible. We are ashamed because we've heard reproach. Shame has covered our faces. Strangers have come into the sanctuaries of the Lord's house." So churches were at one time where churches are now banks. All you need to go in our area, there's Ontario, the city of Ontario. You've got Uklid. drive up Uklid and go up north going towards Upland. And there's this little chapel that had been dedicated to God that is now a bank right there on the corner. You can see it. It's right now. It's it's out there. There are churches that have been turned into retirement centers that had been dedicated to the glory of God. And some of them have failed. And people can drive by those and they can say, "Oh, I remember when we used to have revival there. I can remember when we used to worship the Lord there. I can remember. I can remember. I can remember." And we ought to say, "And I'm ashamed because of what has happened. And I was part of that. And I was part of that." Israel, we are ashamed. It was our sin. It was our reproach. And God brought Babylon against us. For our idolatry, for our turning away from God, for our listening to the false prophets, for our rejection of the Lord, and the reproach, the shame has come upon us. Indeed, sometimes people ought to feel shame for that. But you know that is a picture of godly sorrow which is how you can truly repent when he says in verses 54 to 58 the sound of a cry comes from Babylon and great destruction from the land of the calaldanss because the Lord is plundering Babylon silencing her loud voice though her waves roar like great waters and the noise of their voice is uttered because the plunderer comes against her against Babylon and her mighty men are taken. Every one of their bows is broken. He says, "For the Lord our for the Lord is the God of recompense. He will surely repay. And I will make drunk her princes and wise men. Her governors are deputies and her mighty men. They shall sleep a perpetual sleep and not awake, says the Lord. Rather says the King, whose name is the Lord of Hosts. And thus says the Lord of Hosts, the broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken, and her high gates shall be burned with fire. The people will labor in vain, the nations because of the fire, and they shall be weary. So the enemy, he is pictured here, as simply overrunning the land like a tidal wave. And he pictures God as being the God of vengeance and the God of righteousness. And God will bring, he says, a recompense. It's what what the writer of Hebrews says in chapter 10:30 when he says, "We know him who has said, "Vengeance belongs unto me. I will recompense." And so the Lord says,"I will repay. I will deal with them." In verses 59 to the conclusion, the word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Sariah, the son of Na, the son of Maah, when he went with Zedekiah, the king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. And Sariah was the quartermaster. So Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that would come upon Babylon, all these words that are written against Babylon. And Jeremiah said to Sarah, "When you arrive in Babylon and see it and read all these words, then you shall say, Oh Lord, you have spoken against this place to cut it off, so that none shall remain in it, neither man nor beast, but it shall be desolate forever." Now it shall be when you have finished reading this book that you shall tie a stone to it and throw it out into the Euphrates. Then you shall say, "Thus Babylon shall sink and not rise from the catastrophe that I will bring upon her. They shall be weary." Thus far are the words of Jeremiah. This occurs in 594 593 BC. It's a picture of the fall of Babylon. The picture it is final and it is complete. Even as this sinks with a stone into the Euphrates, even so you will disappear from memory. I'm going to close with Romans chapter 2. If you'd like to turn there, I give you some time to reopen your Bibles. Romans chapter 2 verses 4-8. Paul writes and asks a question that I'd like to close with. Paul writes, "Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance, and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance, but because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath. when his righteous judgment will be revealed. God will give to each person according to what he has done. To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. Do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance, and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance? God is a loving and a righteous and a merciful God, isn't he? Absolutely. I think I shared this with you. If not, let me say it briefly. When I was in Austria and they had asked me, what is the one thing we were having a pastor's question and answer time? There was a panel of four pastors. I was on that panel and the question was asked, "What is the most important lesson that you have learned in your ministry and Christian life?" And as I was there seated on the panel, I waited and let the other guys answer. Not because I wanted to steal their answers, but because I wanted time to think. I want to know. I I would like to know, Lord, what have you, please hear this. What have you over these last years shown me that has been the most important thing about you? What is it? I guess every one of us would have a different answer, but for me the answer was out of the Psalms where the psalmist simply says, "Truly the Lord God is good to Israel." And I take that and I say this, truly the Lord God is good. That's the one thing that has kept me going, guys. God is good. Coming from a background like I did where I thought God was always angry at me, which indeed he is angry with sin and the wrath of God abides on those who reject him. Absolutely. And we treasure up wrath. We store up wrath for the day of wrath. In other words, we have a bank account. Every day that we reject Jesus Christ, you have wrath that's gathering interest. But you want to know something, guys? The most important lesson that the Lord has taught me and I want to leave this thought with you here. God is bringing judgment on Babylon. But God has also stated, "I will recompense." And not only that, the nation of Israel says, "Look what has come upon them because of us." Look what happened to the temple because of us. And yet God is saying, "I haven't forsaken you. I'm going to remain with you. I'm going to minister to you. I will restore you." What is it about the Lord that means so much to me that keeps me going? That has kept me going in times of sorrow and in times of joy is that God is good. Because God is good. And the whole world screams out that he is not. The whole world screams out that he is not good. He is not loving. He is not caring. He's not forgiving. He's not merciful. He's not compassionate. He's not fair. I mean, what is the first thing you do when you go through a trial? Don't you, you know, inside just say, "God, you're not fair. How can you allow this?" We're saying, "You're not good." When we say that, "God, you aren't any good. If you were good, you wouldn't let me hurt." It's like when my daughter Karen was about two months old or so. I don't remember her exact age, but we took her to get her first shots. And I remember carrying her into the doctor's office there, this little teeny infant. And I used to carry her everywhere. Everywhere. I was the daddy who was going to just I just I just always had my baby girl. And I would carry her everywhere. I Marie would reach for her and I just I no this is mine. This is my girl. And so I can still remember going into the doctor's office and I was holding her in when they gave her her first shots and they pulled her diaper down, just exposed a little of her bottom there. And the nurse gets this, you know, 12 foot needle and jams it into her. And I still remember this and it was 20 years ago. And I still remember her leaning back, looking me in the eyes like, "You're supposed to be protecting me and you let them do that to me. Look what they just did." I cried. I started to cry. She cried and I cried. And the nurse looked at this man who was supposed to be Mr. Mo. You know, this man crying holding his baby. Why? Because as evil as I am, and God knows I am, as evil as I am, I wanted to and still want to protect my children from any harm that comes upon them. And yet, some things are necessary, and they may even hurt when they go through it. And there's nothing I can do about it. Is daddy evil when he allows things to go into your life? No. He's good. Truly, the Lord God is good. He loves you. And some things are necessary for you to go through. And through his love and grace and mercy, he allows some things. Why? Only God in eternity will be able to let us know that. But I know the scriptures and the scriptures say that he will wipe away my tears. And a father who gently reaches to the child's face and wipes away the tears is the kind of father that I worship. A loving father who touches his babies and ministers to them even when they're hurting. Truly, the Lord God is good. And even as we see his judgment here, guys, I believe very seriously, more so now than ever before, that if you choose to go to hell, it will be over God's son's dead body. You chose to go even when he died for you. who was raised for you to give you hope and a knowledge that no matter what you go through with him you can succeed with him you can be victorious because death could not hold him down. So you choose to go. You choose. But God truly is good. Not only is he good to Israel, he's good to us, isn't he?