Jeremiah 51
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Listen to 2 Peter 3:10…
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.
Q. What response should we have to that verse or to the truth that God’s judgment is coming soon?
A. Listen to 2 Peter 3:11-14…
11 Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! 13 But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. 14 Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless,
Notice especially v. 11 and v. 14.
11 Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness,
14 Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless,
When we think about God’s judgment, the people of God ought to think about holiness—separating ourselves from the sin on account of which the judgment of God is coming.
5 Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. 6 For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience,
In Jeremiah 51, the wrath of God is coming to Babylon and calls His people to flee from her midst lest they suffer Babylon’s fate.
God allowed Babylon to carry His people into exile to purify them, to cure them of their idolatry, but the with the fall of Babylon, God’s purified people are called to go home.
In Revelation 17-18, Babylon is depicted as the satanic world system opposing God and His Lamb and, therefore, coming under the wrath of God and His Lamb.
Before God sends His angel to lay waste to this satanic world system, He tells us—His people purified of sin through the blood of Jesus—he tells us in Revelation 18:4-5…
4 I heard another voice from heaven, saying, “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues; 5 for her sins have piled up as high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.
YHWH is the God of recompense, He repays sin with judgment.
If He has repaid our sins with judgment upon Christ, then we should separate ourselves from all sin.
[TS] Let’s read Jeremiah 51:1-14 and you be looking for things that speak to you or things you have a question about…
Major Ideas
Major Ideas
#1: Flee From the Midst of Babylon (51:1-14)
#1: Flee From the Midst of Babylon (51:1-14)
Q. So, what things speak to you in these verses, or what questions do you have?
#2: The Portion of Jacob is Not Like These (51:15-26)
#2: The Portion of Jacob is Not Like These (51:15-26)
Q. So, what things speak to you in these verses, or what questions do you have?
#3: The Purpose of the Lord Against Babylon Stand (51:27-33)
#3: The Purpose of the Lord Against Babylon Stand (51:27-33)
Q. So, what things speak to you in these verses, or what questions do you have?
Conclusion
Conclusion
God said in v. 33, “Yet in a little while the time of harvest will come for (Babylon).”
Babylon had been sowing sin and storing up wrath for itself on the day of wrath, and God will soon render judgment according to its deeds; Babylon will reap destruction (Gal. 6:7-8; Rom. 2:5-6).
So too will all those who refuse to separate from sin and follow Jesus.
4 I heard another voice from heaven, saying, “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues; 5 for her sins have piled up as high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.
notes---------------------------
The Lord’s Vengeance on Babylon (vv. 1-14)
The Omnipotent and Impotent Idols (vv. 15-26)
The Nations Summoned (vv. 27-33)
Babylon’s Defenses Useless (51:34-44)
Warning to Israel to Flee Babylon (51:45-48)
The Certainty of Babylon’s Fall (51:49-53)
The Completeness of Babylon’s Destruction (51:54-58)
The Mission of Seraiah (51:59-64)
A Very Short History of the Medes
Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary Medes, Media
The Medes were first reported in history by the Assyrian Shalmaneser III about 850 B.C. They were a group of nomadic tribes rather than a state or kingdom.
Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary Medes, Media
The greatest Median king was Cyaxares (625–585 B.C.).
Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary Medes, Media
Babylon and Media divided the Assyrian Empire with Media taking the land east and north of the Tigris River.
Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary Medes, Media
Astyages became king of the Medes when Cyaxares died.
The end of the Median kingdom came with the rise of Cyrus II, founder of the Persian Empire. Cyrus was king of Anshan and a vassal to Astyages. Indeed, Cyrus’ mother was Astyages’ daughter. About 550 B.C., encouraged by Babylon, Cyrus rebelled against the Medes. His rebellion led to the defeat of Astyages. The kingdom of the Medes was replaced by the kingdom of the Persians.
The Medes Take Babylon in Daniel 5
on Jeremiah 50-51
“Much of these two chs emphasizes that Babylonia will be destroyed through violence. In reality, however, Cyrus bloodlessly took over Babylon in 539 BC, when the powerful priests of Marduk preferred him to the reigning Babylonian King Nabonidus.” Jewish Study Bible, p. 1028
on Jeremiah 50:14-16
Jeremiah, Lamentations (2) Explanation for Its Punishment (50:11–17)
Its “towers” would fall (a hapax legomenon, whose exact meaning is uncertain). Its walls would be torn down, a threat that did not actually occur because Cyrus took the city without resistance.
on Jeremiah 50:16
The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 6: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel 2. Babylon’s Sin and Judgment (50:11–16)
Babylon was in a fertile agricultural area. With the decline of her political power, the irrigation canals were silted up so that the country became desolate (v.13). Cyrus, who unified the Medo-Persian Empire and then overwhelmed Babylon (ZPEB, 1:1054–56), was careful to spare the country; so the references (v.16) must be to a later attack. Babylon will learn the agony the law of retaliation entails.
on Jeremiah 51:26
“The fact that historically Cyrus entered Babylon without any appreciable resistance and left the city intact is quite contrary to the description of devastation that appears in v. 26, so that the verses, as well as others in chs. 50 and 51, must come from a period before the conquest of Babylon by Cyrus.” J. A. Thompson, The Book of Jeremiah
Do chs 50-51 apply to ancient Babylon or to a future Babylon?
They definitely apply to ancient Babylon although everything recorded in these chapters describing the destruction of Babylon did not take place when Cyrus conquered Babylon.
It may be that although these things didn’t immediately happen, they did happen over the next 200 years or so.
It may be that some of the things prophesied are metaphorical (e.g., walls coming down) or hyperbolic (i.e., true but intentionally overstated for effect).
They may apply to the future because while the ancient city of Babylon lies desolate, the land of Babylon (cf., Jer. 51:29) is not a desolation without inhabitants.
The ancient city of Babylon was only about 3.5 square miles. To refer to 3.5 square miles (2,200 acres) as “the land” seems a stretch.
It seems to me that chs 50-51 apply to ancient Babylon and that final Babylon (the satanic world system opposed to Christ) that will fall when Christ returns.