What is the greatest enemy in your life? You may say sin or Satan. Babylon was the epitome of the worldly enemy of Jerusalem and Judah. Today we read of the final destruction of what was initially Israel’s saviour.
Jeremiah 51: The Utter Destruction of Babylon
1 Thus says the LORD: "Behold, I will stir up the spirit of a destroyer against Babylon, against the inhabitants of Leb-kamai,
2 and I will send to Babylon winnowers, and they shall winnow her, and they shall empty her land, when they come against her from every side on the day of trouble.
3 Let not the archer bend his bow, and let him not stand up in his armour. Spare not her young men; devote to destruction all her army.
4 They shall fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans, and wounded in her streets.
5 For Israel and Judah have not been forsaken by their God, the LORD of hosts, but the land of the Chaldeans is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel.
6 "Flee from the midst of Babylon; let everyone save his life! Be not cut off in her punishment, for this is the time of the LORD's vengeance, the repayment he is rendering her.
7 Babylon was a golden cup in the LORD's hand, making all the earth drunken; the nations drank of her wine; therefore the nations went mad.
8 Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been broken; wail for her! Take balm for her pain; perhaps she may be healed.
9 We would have healed Babylon, but she was not healed. Forsake her, and let us go each to his own country, for her judgment has reached up to heaven and has been lifted up even to the skies.
10 The LORD has brought about our vindication; come, let us declare in Zion the work of the LORD our God.
11 "Sharpen the arrows! Take up the shields! The LORD has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because his purpose concerning Babylon is to destroy it, for that is the vengeance of the LORD, the vengeance for his temple.
12 "Set up a standard against the walls of Babylon; make the watch strong; set up watchmen; prepare the ambushes; for the LORD has both planned and done what he spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.
13 O you who dwell by many waters, rich in treasures, your end has come; the thread of your life is cut.
14 The LORD of hosts has sworn by himself: Surely I will fill you with men, as many as locusts, and they shall raise the shout of victory over you.
15 "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.
16 When he utters his voice there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain, and he brings forth the wind from his storehouses.
17 Every man is stupid and without knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols, for his images are false, and there is no breath in them.
18 They are worthless, a work of delusion; at the time of their punishment they shall perish.
19 Not like these is he who is the portion of Jacob, for he is the one who formed all things, and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance; the LORD of hosts is his name.
20 "You are my hammer and weapon of war: with you I break nations in pieces; with you I destroy kingdoms;
21 with you I break in pieces the horse and his rider; with you I break in pieces the chariot and the charioteer;
22 with you I break in pieces man and woman; with you I break in pieces the old man and the youth; with you I break in pieces the young man and the young woman;
23 with you I break in pieces the shepherd and his flock; with you I break in pieces the farmer and his team; with you I break in pieces governors and commanders.
24 "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.
25 "Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain, declares the LORD, which destroys the whole earth; I will stretch out my hand against you, and roll you down from the crags, and make you a burnt mountain.
26 No stone shall be taken from you for a corner and no stone for a foundation, but you shall be a perpetual waste, declares the LORD.
27 "Set up a standard on the earth; blow the trumpet among the nations; prepare the nations for war against her; summon against her the kingdoms, Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz; appoint a marshal against her; bring up horses like bristling locusts.
28 Prepare the nations for war against her, the kings of the Medes, with their governors and deputies, and every land under their dominion.
29 The land trembles and writhes in pain, for the LORD's purposes against Babylon stand, to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without inhabitant.
30 The warriors of Babylon have ceased fighting; they remain in their strongholds; their strength has failed; they have become women; her dwellings are on fire; her bars are broken.
31 One runner runs to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to tell the king of Babylon that his city is taken on every side;
32 the fords have been seized, the marshes are burned with fire, and the soldiers are in panic.
33 For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time when it is trodden; yet a little while and the time of her harvest will come."
34 "Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me; he has crushed me; he has made me an empty vessel; he has swallowed me like a monster; he has filled his stomach with my delicacies; he has rinsed me out.
35 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.
36 Therefore thus says the LORD: "Behold, I will plead your cause and take vengeance for you. I will dry up her sea and make her fountain dry,
37 and Babylon shall become a heap of ruins, the haunt of jackals, a horror and a hissing, without inhabitant.
38 "They shall roar together like lions; they shall growl like lions' cubs.
39 While they are inflamed I will prepare them a feast and make them drunk, that they may become merry, then sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake, declares the LORD.
40 I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams and male goats.
41 "How Babylon is taken, the praise of the whole earth seized! How Babylon has become a horror among the nations!
42 The sea has come up on Babylon; she is covered with its tumultuous waves.
43 Her cities have become a horror, a land of drought and a desert, a land in which no one dwells, and through which no son of man passes.
44 And I will punish Bel in Babylon, and take out of his mouth what he has swallowed. The nations shall no longer flow to him; the wall of Babylon has fallen.
45 "Go out of the midst of her, my people! Let everyone save his life from the fierce anger of the LORD!
46 Let not your heart faint, and be not fearful at the report heard in the land, when a report comes in one year and afterward a report in another year, and violence is in the land, and ruler is against ruler.
47 "Therefore, behold, the days are coming when I will punish the images of Babylon; her whole land shall be put to shame, and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her.
48 Then the heavens and the earth, and all that is in them, shall sing for joy over Babylon, for the destroyers shall come against them out of the north, declares the LORD.
49 Babylon must fall for the slain of Israel, just as for Babylon have fallen the slain of all the earth.
50 "You who have escaped from the sword, go, do not stand still! Remember the LORD from far away, and let Jerusalem come into your mind:
51 'We are put to shame, for we have heard reproach; dishonour has covered our face, for foreigners have come into the holy places of the LORD's house.'
52 "Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will execute judgment upon her images, and through all her land the wounded shall groan.
53 Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify her strong height, yet destroyers would come from me against her, declares the LORD.
54 "A voice! A cry from Babylon! The noise of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans!
55 For the LORD is laying Babylon waste and stilling her mighty voice. Their waves roar like many waters; the noise of their voice is raised,
56 for a destroyer has come upon her, upon Babylon; her warriors are taken; their bows are broken in pieces, for the LORD is a God of recompense; he will surely repay.
57 I will make drunk her officials and her wise men, her governors, her commanders, and her warriors; they shall sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake, declares the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts.
58 "Thus says the LORD of hosts: The broad wall of Babylon shall be levelled to the ground, and her high gates shall be burned with fire. The peoples labour for nothing, and the nations weary themselves only for fire."
59 The word that Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah king of Judah to Babylon, in the fourth year of his reign. Seraiah was the quartermaster.
60 Jeremiah wrote in a book all the disaster that should come upon Babylon, all these words that are written concerning Babylon.
61 And Jeremiah said to Seraiah: "When you come to Babylon, see that you read all these words,
62 and say, 'O LORD, you have said concerning this place that you will cut it off, so that nothing shall dwell in it, neither man nor beast, and it shall be desolate forever.'
63 When you finish reading this book, tie a stone to it and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates,
64 and say, 'Thus shall Babylon sink, to rise no more, because of the disaster that I am bringing upon her, and they shall become exhausted.'" Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.
Things to think about…
1. In Jer 51:3 it says ’Let not the archer bend his bow, let him not take up his armour’. The Babylonians did not have a chance to save themselves. The Persians under Cyrus, blocked up the river and got under the thick Babylonian walls. The Babylonian army were taken completely by surprise. They were so quickly overwhelmed they did not have a chance to defend themselves. It also happened at night when they were all having a party – so Daniel tells us with the writing on the wall incident, Dan 5. This is also alluded to in vs 57. What is our defence? Is there ever a time when this defence is not able to be used and we are caught completely unaware? What do you think?
2. Revelation says there will be another Babylon that will arise and engulf the nations. People will come to her to trade – to buy and sell. This is the earthly system that will ultimately be destroyed with the return of Christ, Rev 18. Can you see any similarities between the Babylon of Jer 50&51 and the one described in Revelation 18? The end times Babylon will be led by the false prophet and the Antichrist by utilising a system that sets itself up against Christians as well as against Israel. Jer 51:5 is prophetic which says, “For Israel and Judah have not been forsaken by their God, the LORD of hosts, but the land of the Chaldeans is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel. The world system at the end of the age will be destroyed because it set itself up against the Lord’s people. Even through Israel and Christians stumble, they are still the apple of the Lord’s eye and He will fight for His children. His promise to Israel and to you is that while there may be a season of pain or correction, He says “I will never leave you, not forsake you”, Dt 31:8, Heb 13:5.
3. Babylon ruled the world in the ancient past. The end times Babylon will rule the world with the same spirit. Jer 51:7 says “Babylon was a golden cup in the LORD's hand, making all the earth drunken; the nations drank of her wine; therefore the nations went mad.” Rev 18:3 in the same vein says “For all nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxurious living." The same Babylonian spirit of the past will infect the future Babylon and have the same result on the nations of the world. Judgement was swift on ancient Babylon, vs 8 “Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been broken; wail for her!”. This also will be case with the end times Babylon, “Alas! Alas! You great city, you mighty city, Babylon! For in a single hour your judgment has come." Rev 18:10. This will be more than a stock market crash, although this will no doubt be involved. The Lord’s hand of judgement will be final and it will be left a place of ruin, as it was with ancient Babylon.
4. Some commentators have said Jeremiah was written (at least parts of it) after Babylon fell – they say the same with the book of Daniel. Why? Because the prophecies are too accurate. As such they say and it’s impossible that the prophet could have known the details with such precision. That’s the difference between faith and flesh of course. Have a look at Jer 51:11 & 28. It says the spirit of the Medes will be stirred up. This is exactly what happened. The Medo-Persian empire took over Babylon in 536BC under King Cyrus. 70 years from the initial time the captives were taken! We actually know the year of writing. It is in the text – “when he went with Zedekiah king of Judah to Babylon, in the fourth year of his reign”. The year was 593BC.
5. We see that Babylon would never be rebuilt, Jer 51:26 “No stone shall be taken from you for a corner and no stone for a foundation, but you shall be a perpetual waste, declares the LORD”. The ruins of ancient Babylon can be clearly seen from Google Earth. They are a perpetual reminder of the certainty of the Lord’s decree and that His word can be trusted to the last degree. If you have doubts about this, may I encourage you to study and push the scriptures (Bible) as hard as you like. It can well stand any degree of scrutiny or challenge.
6. Ancient Babylon was surrounded by the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers. The judgement pronounced against it says, Jer 51:43 “Her cities have become a horror, a land of drought and a desert, a land in which no one dwells, and through which no son of man passes.” The 2 rivers have changed course – especially after the Persians stopped up the Euphrates to get under the Babylonian wall. The site today is desert and modern Iraq is “a land of drought”.
7. Jer 51:39 says, “I will make drunk her officials and her wise men, her governors, her commanders, and her warriors; they shall sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake”, cf vs 57. The book of Daniel records how Babylon was taken and what was happening inside the city when the Persians entered; “they brought in the golden vessels that had been taken out of the temple, the house of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines drank from them. They drank wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone” Dan 5:3, 4. The Lord would judge instantly the use of these vessels being used to praise idols. Cyrus the Persian king would restore the Jews and the Temple by reversing the fortunes of the Babylonians back upon the Jews.
8. The Jews were encouraged to leave Babylon after their time of captivity, Jer 51:45 “Go out of the midst of her, my people!Let everyone save his life from the fierce anger of the LORD!”. Many followed his advice and returned to Judah to rebuild the temple. The Babylon at the end of the age in Rev 18 is similarly corrupt and the Lord’s people are exhorted to “"Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues; for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.” Rev 18:4, 5. The Lord’s people are called to be in the world, but not of it. While we use the world’s systems, they should never be a distraction for us to follow its debauchery. These are all to accessible through modern streaming services and the plague of online pornographic sites. The apostle Paul says regarding the future temple and our call to separate from the world in 2 Cor 6:16-18, “For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, "I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty." What is capturing your heart at the moment? Is Christ the centrepiece of your affections? If not, adjust your course before it is too late.
9. Jer 51:58 says “The broad wall of Babylon shall be levelled to the ground, and her high gates shall be burned with fire.” It was understood that the wall of Babylon was so wide that 2 fully equipped chariots and their horses could go side by side around the entire Babylonian wall. The Greek historian Herodotus claimed that "Babylon surpasses in wonder any city in the known world" and specifically praised the walls which he said were 56 miles (90 km) long, 80 feet (24 m) thick, and 320 feet (97 m) high. It was meant to be impenetrable. Babylon was also said to have storage spaces big enough to endure 20 years of being under siege. Of course, there was enough water to last because the Euphrates River flowed through the city. The Babylonians didn’t count on the cunning of Cyrus to dry it up or the judgement of God to destroy the walls and gates together. All our earthly pride will melt away when the Lord strikes our strength. Just ask Jacob.
10. Jeremiah says to Seraiah to take these words of prophecy and read them aloud in Babylon by the river Euphrates, Jer 51:61-63. Once the words were read, he was to tie them to a stone and throw them in the Euphrates, vs 63. A graphic image of what would happen to Babylon. It interesting that verse 64 has literally come true. Ancient Babylon is still in ruins. Saddam Hussein tried to rebuild it when he was in power, but this obviously came to nothing when he was killed for war crimes. Yet Jerusalem today, which was once destroyed by Babylon is a thriving metropolis. The war with the Arabs is still going on over this city of course. Can you think of strongholds that need to be destroyed that are holding Australia back from seeing full victory in Christ? Materialism, individualism and atheism combined with apathy are all cancers in the church that also afflict Australia through affluence. May they be destroyed and rise no more!
Vision statement for CBC
CBC’s Vision :- To be a growing biblical church community, significantly influencing our city and beyond, through intentional outreach, fulfilling our mission.
Life groups Wednesday – 6:30pm at church. 5:30om for prayer. New Life group starting in Karana Downs.
Prayer Points
1. Keep praying for Anna as she recovers from her operation
2. Easter services – pray for messages and visitors
3. New members course – 3 weeks after Easter weekend
4. Pray for Israel/Gaza, Ukraine wars. May Yeshua, the Prince of Peace still the storms
5. New people as they settle in
6. New Life group in Karana Downs. One starting soon in Fernvale/Lowood
7. Those that haven’t come to church for a while to return.
8. Revival over our city.
9. Finances to cover our needs
10. Pray for PlayPatch, Kids church, Creche and Kids Hope at Karalee State school.
11. Growth, conversions, joy in the Word and Spirit to increase.
Praise Points
1. Praise God for new people on Sunday.
2. PlayPatch keeps seeing new people every week.
3. The Lord’s grace over our lives and country
4. Café, music, kids church, admin, sound and technical team every week
5. Joy, peace and grace we see at CBC. Thankyou Lord
Announcements
1. Easter services. Good Friday 18th Apr 9:00am and Easter Sunday 20th Apr – 9:30am
2. Ministries this week. Life group, Kids@Church, Kids Hope - Karalee.
3. PlayPatch 1-5yos, Fridays 9:30am at church.
4. Church bank details bsb:- 704 913 and Acc number:- 4000 4388 1
5. Tune in again this week on our YouTube page. Subscribe to the CBC channel Chuwar Baptist YouTube channel.
Catechism questions for April...
Q. 31. Can anyone go to heaven with this sinful nature? A. No - our hearts must be changed before we can be fit for heaven.
