Journal Through the Bible: Week 77 Tuesday

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Jeremiah 50:21-46

Does God issue any commands?

• God commands "someone" not named in verse 21, to go against Merathaim and Pekod to utterly destroy them. (This must be a reference to the Medo-Persian Empire that would conquer Babylon at the end of the Jewish diaspora of that period. So God did not name the Medes and the Persians in His command but we know through history to whom He is directing His command.)

Does God make any promises?

• God promised to open His armory and fight against Babylon because they fought against the LORD.
• Babylon's men of war would be cut off.
• A drought would come. Some of the land would no longer be inhabited.
• Many kings would come against Babylon, including the people of the north. (The country that made all other countries fear would experience that fear themselves.)

Does this passage teach anything about Jesus?

• Jesus is the LORD, the Holy One of Israel. (He was born of Jewish blood, a descendant of Israel in the flesh.)
• Jesus is the Redeemer, the LORD of Hosts.
• God asks questions in verse 44. Jesus is the answer to all the questions. He is a chosen man appointed by God. He is like God the Father. He will appoint the time of wrath and judgment. He is the shepherd that stands before God the Father.

Does this passage teach anything about yet-future events?

• A parallel could be drawn with the passages in Revelation, like chapter 18, that declare that Babylon the Great is fallen!
• Reference is also made to the declaration of Babylon's destruction made in Zion from those who escape from there. This could also be compared to the passages in Revelation where God calls His people out of her.
• The Redeemer will bring rest to the land.
• God promised a drought in the land. In the latter days one of the curses out of the angel's vial is a curse upon the drinking water.
• "At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth is moved, and the cry is heard among the nations." (Verse 46) This was surely true in ancient times, this was surely true in our own time when forces toppled the regime, and it will surely be true in the future as described in Revelation 18.