What’s up with Babylon? Jeremiah 51:1-26

What are the popular people from your cohort at school doing now? Have you stayed in touch with them? Are they still popular? Are they still the cool kids? What about the promising young adult friends you used to have? There were happy marriages and there was lots of life and fun you had together. How are they now? Do you still see them? If so, is all well. A period of time in history is like a photo. It’s a snap shot in history, but it’s not the whole journey. It may be a very brief, even an amazing chapter in the book, but not the end of the story.

As young adults, newly married, we had 2 other couples in the church we were going to in our early twenties. We were all the same age, we all sang or played in the church band, played games, went on camps, had meals, hung out together. It was fun: we all loved Jesus and were happy to share it with others. But where are they now?

We have heard for many chapters in Jeremiah about the city of Babylon; the role that Babylon would play in judging Jerusalem and other smaller nations, even Egypt. Babylon had an ancient past. Remember it was a city established by a guy by the name of Nimrod. He wanted to build a huge tower to the heavens. The Lord looked down and saw rebellion. Rather than wipe them out as he did with the flood, he confused their languages. The building project stopped for about 1700years. Then king Nebuchadnezzar came along and completed it. He also built the famous hanging gardens of Babylon which were a wonder of the ancient world. Babylon had high broad walls. It had provisions; if it was ever surrounded and under siege, enough to last the inhabitants for many years. The River Euphrates flowed through the city, so there was always water. What could possibly go wrong?

Jerusalem, on the other hand, was a wasteland after the king of Babylon destroyed it. A pile of stones, all the wealth taken out of it.

Jeremiah here prophesied about Babylon being destroyed. How would it happen? Remember Jeremiah was writing these words in 593BC, (Jeremiah 51:59) “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.” Jeremiah wrote about the Medes/Persians coming up and in 538BC that’s what they did. King Cyrus of the Medo/Persian empire diverted the water of the River Euphrates and exposed an ancient gate that the Persians could climb through. That same night the Babylonian king saw writing on the wall - Mene Mene Tekel Upharsin – you have been weighed on the balances and been found wanting. God, through Daniel the prophet, said times up. That night Babylon was taken over by the Persians. Daniel also prophesied about Greece coming and a leader conquering across the land – that was Alexander the great. He would later completely destroy the walls of Babylon.

In 536BC, King Cyrus released the Jews back to Jerusalem after seventy years: also prophesied by Jeremiah and Daniel. They came back and slowly rebuilt the temple and city walls. But Jeremiah said Babylon would never be rebuilt: (verse 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 stones wouldn’t even be used for a rebuilding project. Here is a pic of those ancient ruins today…

Saddam Hussain had it in his heart to rebuild in 1985. He started, but never finished and was executed for war crimes in 2006.

But what of Jerusalem? It would go on. We know it would be rebuilt. The Jews would again rebel as Jesus said they would and the Romans destroyed Jerusalem again in AD70. But Jeremiah here prophesied that Jerusalem and Israel would be restored, “Again I will build you, and you shall be built, O virgin Israel! Again you shall adorn yourself with tambourines and shall go forth in the dance of the merrymakers. Again you shall plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria; the planters shall plant and shall enjoy the fruit. … together; a great company, they shall return here.” (Jerermiah 31:4-8) This is an end times prophesy of Jerusalem. Many Jews coming in from all the nations. Modern day Jerusalem is in stark contrast to the ruins of Babylon.

Babylon is a type for us: a worldly city, rebellious to God. Jeremiah here also spoke prophetically of what will happen to another Babylon. The Apostle John, in a future point, maybe not too distant future, spoke of a world system called Babylon the Great. We read about it in Revelation 18. Similar words are in fact used as Jeremiah (Jeremiah 51:41) “"How Babylon is taken, the praise of the whole earth seized! How Babylon has become a horror among the nations!” (verse 54) "A voice! A cry from Babylon! The noise of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans!”

Listen to how the Apostle John described it in Revelation. “"Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place for demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detestable beast. 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." Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, "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. Pay her back as she herself has paid back others, and repay her double for her deeds; mix a double portion for her in the cup she mixed.” (Revelation 18:2-6)

Both Babylons, past and future, will be destroyed. We know even the current Jerusalem will undergo more suffering until they see and accept Jesus as their Saviour, but they will see Him and there will be revival.

The Apostle John again spoke of a New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven. (Revelation 21:10-12) “And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great, high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed---"

Question: - Are you a member of Babylon or Jerusalem this morning? Jerusalem saw fighting and struggle, yet survived and will rule with Christ forever: Babylon destroyed forever. End story – Of those three couples, 2 are divorced – both suffered adultery, at least 2 of the 6 are unbelievers today. It’s not how you start. The only ‘in crowd’ you want to be in, is in the Lamb’s Book of Life, being part of the heavenly Jerusalem. Accepting Jesus as our Saviour from sin assures us of that.