Persia Overthrowing Babylon

INTRO

Jeremiah consistently brought a message of hardship. The people of God were physical people, and the enemies of God’s people were everywhere. These enemies wanted to obliterate them. There was also an obedience factor problem with the people of God themselves. There were times when God had to discipline them. Jeremiah’s words addressed Judah and Israel in both of these situations and contexts. One of the unique avenues of Jeremiah’s message was that God spoke a word to the people of Israel, but God also spoke to their enemies as He used them to bring about His will.

This chapter was mostly written against the Babylonian empire. The Assyrians had been the first conquering army in God’s plan. Then came the Babylonians, and now the Persians and Cyrus as God’s conquerors. The Medes and the Persians had been rallying to come against Babylon for a while. The Babylonians had taken Egypt and her captives. These various empires were involved as the story moved along, with the people of Judah ending up in Babylonian captivity.

TEACHING

Jeremiah 50:1-5: God spoke against Babylon and against the land of the Babylonians. Jeremiah prophesied that Babylon would be overthrown and her gods would be toppled. Israel and Judah would come together and join themselves to the Lord.

It was probable the generation of Jews that had disobeyed the word of God that came from Jeremiah had died by this time. Jeremiah had told them that if they went to Egypt, they would die there. These words of prophecy in chapter 50 would be to a new generation of Jews. These people would be the remnant of the Jews that were left.

Jeremiah 50:6-8: Jeremiah shared that the shepherds—the false prophets—of the people had led them astray. The people were to be like the goats that led the flock and went before the shepherd. Jeremiah’s message was that it would be better for the people to leave Babylon and live as nomads rather than to stay in the land of Babylon that was to be destroyed. Jeremiah prophesied that a people would be coming in from the north to destroy Babylon.

Jeremiah 50:9-10: Jeremiah prophesied of great nations from the north that would be guided by the hand of God in their battle against Babylon. None of these warriors would battle in vain; they would all be successful in battle.

Jeremiah 50:11-13: Jeremiah indicated the people had become comfortable and thought they owned the land of Babylon. They had become complacent. What was coming was the wrath of God that would bring total destruction. Babylon had been an empire of great power, but it would become so completely desolate, its destruction would be unbelievable to those who passed by.

Jeremiah 50:14-22: Jeremiah described how God expected the Persians to confront Babylon without sparing vengeance. The vengeance of the Lord required that Babylon be attacked as they had attacked and conquered other nations. Babylon was judged from its very foundation, and it was to be totally destroyed. The instruction from the Lord was to take no prisoners.

At this time both the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah had been disciplined by the Assyrians, the Egyptians, and the Babylonians. Now, God’s discipline had been satisfied. Therefore, God felt He had punished them to the extent they had disobeyed. God was giving them a pardon for their sins.

Jeremiah 50:23-46: Jeremiah raised the question of how the hammer of the whole earth, which was Babylon, had been broken and destroyed. God was now speaking to Babylon. They had opposed God, and now God was going to open His armory. God’s wrath was turned toward to the Babylonians.

The vengeance of the Lord was the vengeance of His temple. God’s temple and all its contents had been sanctified to the Lord for worship. The Babylonian kings had taken the items from the temple and had used them for themselves.

In Daniel 5 there are accounts of the king taking the worship items from the temple. The king had taken the sacred things from the temple, and now God was going to punish him accordingly. His days would be numbered. Daniel was made the third reigning official in the kingdom in an effort to appease Daniel and God. But that night was when the king died and the kingdom was given to the Medes. Speaking to Babylon, God stated all that belonged to Babylon would be given to the Medes and Persians. The passage foretells what would happen in Daniel’s time when Babylon was finally destroyed.

Babylon had been the conquerors of the whole earth. They had the weapons that no one could stand up against, and they had become the kingdom that ruled over every part of the nation. But Jeremiah prophesied that Babylon’s reign was over. We can see the conclusion of this account in the verses of Scripture in Daniel.

CLOSING

There could be a time coming in our day in which a nation will be destroyed in an hour according to verses in Revelation, Daniel, and Jeremiah. We should realize that we, today, are in need of the protection and care of the Lord. Without God, we are defenseless. God, help us to understand that there is no invincible nation before You. Would we be the ones to take up the cause of God? How would we have lived in a world and at a time that Jeremiah had to live in? Jeremiah was called the weeping prophet for good reason.

If we hear the word of the Lord in our own selves, then the revelation of God is with us. We have a constant within us. We know God has a plan. We should ask God what He would have us and our churches do. Then we should ask that God would not let us forget Him. We should not take the things that were sanctified for His purpose and use them for things that are profane. May we be marked for His glory.