King James Bible Study – [Mark 8:34 And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.]
Date: Wednesday, August 24, 2023
Chapters: JEREMIAH 51-52
Study: A Temporary Home For God’s People
Hello My Brother/Sister/Friend,
When I began reading the chapters for today I thought that this would be a simple cut and paste type of day as there is only so much that you can learn about God’s judgment on Babylon, right? Wrong. This is why God’s Word is alive, He will show us new things every time we pick it up, within reason of course. Babylon, was the ancient site and/or capital of Babylonia, also known as Babel. If you recall was the city that God had confound the speech of man because of the tower that the people built trying to reach up to heaven.
[Genesis 11:4-7,9 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. 5 And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. 6 And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. 7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. 9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.]
Today, Babylon is modern day Iraq and also parts of Syria, so that tells you something as to what we are dealing with. At one time Babylon was one of the, if not, most powerful nations in all the world. It reigned over hundreds of provinces, feared by many, and prospered greatly. And do you know why? God. When God sent Judah into captivity there for seventy years He was not going to leave them high and dry for He was with them. God, used Babylon, just like He did with Egypt, to preserve His people while the were out of the promised land. God, never planned to keep them out of there forever, it was only temporary. Just like every saved born again Christian is not meant to remain on earth forever, we are only here temporarily until God brings us home.
[2 Corinthians 5:8-10 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. 9 Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.]
God, does something else besides preserve His people when He sends them into the world so to speak, He makes Himself known to them and gives them an opportunity to know who He is so they too can be saved from Judgment Day. As we complete the reading of Jeremiah, God, continues to give His judgment of Babylon.
[Jeremiah 51:1-6 Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against them that dwell in the midst of them that rise up against me, a destroying wind; 2 And will send unto Babylon fanners, that shall fan her, and shall empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about. 3 Against him that bendeth let the archer bend his bow, and against him that lifteth himself up in his brigandine: and spare ye not her young men; destroy ye utterly all her host. 4 Thus the slain shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans, and they that are thrust through in her streets. 5 For Israel hath not been forsaken, nor Judah of his God, of the LORD of hosts; though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel. 6 Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity; for this is the time of the LORD’S vengeance; he will render unto her a recompence.]
[in the midst of them that rise up against me, a destroying wind;] God is not against anyone, He will save all, but if you reject Him, fight with Him, are against Him, you can expect the same. You reap what you sow, but that does not stop Him from having hope that they will turn to Him, hence the crying for them. God goes on to say that if Babylon would just listen to Him, then it would not have to be destroyed.
[Jeremiah 51:8-10,13-15 Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed. 9 We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go every one into his own country: for her judgment reacheth unto heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies. 10 The LORD hath brought forth our righteousness: come, and let us declare in Zion the work of the LORD our God. 13 O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness. 14 The LORD of hosts hath sworn by himself, saying, Surely I will fill thee with men, as with caterpillers; and they shall lift up a shout against thee. 15 He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heaven by his understanding.]
[We would have healed Babylon,] Keep in mind that God is talking in particular about the Babylonians here, and not all the inhabitants, but the judgment was upon the land because of all the evil. This was a warning to all who were on that land to flee once Israel is loose from their captivity as it will be destroyed. God, gives all nations fair warning to come to Him before the destruction of any land, [Romans 1:16-17 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. 17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.]
[The LORD hath brought forth our righteousness:] Jesus, in all His glory and might, brought forth righteousness to every believer when He took on the sins of every man, woman, and child from creation and nailed them to the cross with Him. When He was buried in the tomb for three days, every one of those sins were buried as well, never to be brought up again. When He arose, there came a newness of life to all who believe as they put on His righteousness, [Romans 6:3-6 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? 4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: 6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.]
Let me tell you, the older I get and the more corrupt my own country gets the more I understand God’s anger, especially toward His people. And while God will chasten His people, and sometimes even remove them from their comforts to give them something to repent about, they do belong to Him. He reminds Babylon that He is not done with Israel, also referring to them as the portion of Jacob.
[Jeremiah 51:19-20.24,26,29 The portion of Jacob is not like them; for he is the former of all things: and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: the LORD of hosts is his name. 20 Thou art my battle axe and weapons of war: for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms; 24 And I will render unto Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight, saith the LORD. 26 And they shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but thou shalt be desolate for ever, saith the LORD. 29 And the land shall tremble and sorrow: for every purpose of the LORD shall be performed against Babylon, to make the land of Babylon a desolation without an inhabitant.]
[Thou art my battle axe and weapons of war:] Again, God will use the world to chasten His people, but they are His and once their chastening is over, they will inherit the promised land. All who receive Christ as their Saviour are one with Israel, they are the rod of His inheritance, we belong to Him, He will never leave nor forsake us, and one day there will be an end to all suffering, [Colossians 3:24-25 Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ. 25 But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done: and there is no respect of persons.]
It is God’s desire than none should perish, He will save any soul who comes to Him through His Son, but unless they come to Him He cannot, and will not save them. Why? One word, freewill. God gives us all the freewill to choose what we believe, if you want to believe that man evolved over millions of years ago, then so be it, but do not blame Him when you face Him. No one will escape judgment without Christ! God goes on to explain this.
[Jeremiah 51:50-53,57 Ye that have escaped the sword, go away, stand not still: remember the LORD afar off, and let Jerusalem come into your mind. 51 We are confounded, because we have heard reproach: shame hath covered our faces: for strangers are come into the sanctuaries of the LORD’S house. 52 Wherefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will do judgment upon her graven images: and through all her land the wounded shall groan. 53 Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from me shall spoilers come unto her, saith the LORD. 57 And I will make drunk her princes, and her wise men, her captains, and her rulers, and her mighty men: and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts.]
[and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the King,] This is not our home, we are actually exiles on this modern day Babylon that we call earth, and even if our bodies are in grave when Jesus returns for us, He will bring us up from them to live with Him forever, Amen! [1 Thessalonians 4:15-18 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.]
God may allow suffering, He may chasten His people, and let them fall into trouble sometimes, but He never stops loving them, and if you look carefully you will see that He never lets you down when you put your faith and trust in Him. It is not about being perfect, we will never be perfect until we get to heaven, it is about having a relationship with Him that separates us from the world and brings others to Him. The last chapter of Jeremiah, gives an account of why and when Nebuchadnezzar was allowed by God to send judgment upon Judah.
[Jeremiah 52:3-5.28-30 For through the anger of the LORD it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, till he had cast them out from his presence, that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. 4 And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it, and built forts against it round about. 5 So the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of king Zedekiah. 28 This is the people whom Nebuchadrezzar carried away captive: in the seventh year three thousand Jews and three and twenty: 29 In the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar he carried away captive from Jerusalem eight hundred thirty and two persons: 30 In the three and twentieth year of Nebuchadrezzar Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the Jews seven hundred forty and five persons: all the persons were four thousand and six hundred.]
[This is the people whom Nebuchadrezzar carried away captive:] Four-thousand and six hundred Jews were carried into captivity to Babylon while Nebuchadnezzar was king, while in their seventy year captivity something amazing began to happen, many of the people turned to God, sought forgiveness of their sins, and put their faith and trust in Him. The result, God’s mercy and grace was upon them and they began to prosper, even the last king of Judah, Jehoiachin, who was captured and imprisoned, was released from prison and sat under the throne of the king of Babylon.
[Jeremiah 52:31-34 And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, in the five and twentieth day of the month, that Evilmerodach king of Babylon in the first year of his reign lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah, and brought him forth out of prison, 32 And spake kindly unto him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon, 33 And changed his prison garments: and he did continually eat bread before him all the days of his life. 34 And for his diet, there was a continual diet given him of the king of Babylon, every day a portion until the day of his death, all the days of his life.]
[every day a portion until the day of his death, all the days of his life.] I was just telling my husband that God always takes care of my needs, even gives me things I do not need. Of course, we are going to have times of famine as God will only give us the bare necessities at times, but He always gives us our daily bread, regardless if we need five or five million dollars. There are many, many Christians who struggle to get their daily bread and wonder why God does not provide for them, the truth is, they are hindering God in some way as He never lacks to provide us with what we have need of while we are exiles here, [Haggai 1:5-8 Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways. 6 Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes. 7 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways. 8 Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the LORD.]
Today’s Prayer: God, There is no amount of words that can describe just how merciful and forgiving You are no matter what we have done. To think of the things we have allowed in our lives or been caught up in due to others is astounding, but You are always there to catch us, to pick us up, to mend the wounds, and to heal everything from a broken heart to a broken ego. Lord, while we are exiles here upon the earth, give us your power and strength to set free anything that we have brought into our lives that hinders Your giving us what we have need of. Lead us and guide us, give us Your mercy and grace, keep us looking to You through all of our trials, and suffering as we await the joyful day that Your Son comes to get us and bring us into the place that He is preparing for us. I ask these things in Your name, Jesus. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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