Reading for today:  Jeremiah 49-50
Original Post:  August 30, 2014


Chapter 49 continues the Lord's foretelling of the nations that will fall to Nebuchadnezzar.  One by one countries that border Israel, or lay in the path the Nebuchadnezzar took in route to Egypt are spoken of.   The only thing that I would point out from this passage is the reason they are being destroyed.   It isn't because Nebuchadnezzar is so powerful, it's because they have not served the one true and living God.  In some cases when God chose to use them to punish Israel, they gloated over their success.  This made God angry, and now He has come to provide justice.  Several times in our reading over the last week you will see the phrase "should you go unpunished?"   Every time the answer is "no".   Punishment is coming and cannot be avoided.   Ammon, Moab, Edom and Egypt have engaged in some pretty unsavory, and seedy behavior and now it's coming back to haunt them.

I wonder how differently we would live our lives if we knew for certain that every errant deed would be punished.  How much differently would we THINK, if we knew that every thought was being captured, recorded and used as evidence against us at a trial on a future date?    Some people in power have learned not to have discussions on sensitive matters on their cell phones, or in email, because they have a habit of coming back to haunt you.    Our deeds and thoughts are going to come back to haunt us.  

Since I know that there is plenty of evidence against me, what hope do I have before the Judge?   Only that I can claim forgiveness of all my sins, past present and future (of course after this trial there are no "future" sins) through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ.   This is the reason that we sing songs about the blood of Christ.  "What can wash away my sin, nothing but the blood of Jesus.  What can make me whole again, nothing but the blood of Jesus.   O precious is the flow that makes me white as snow.  No other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus"

The most terrifying thing that I can think of is that God himself would be against me, and not on my side.  This is what is happening to Israel and the surrounding area.    And, in Chapter 50 the Lord says that Babylon will not be spared.   They will be punished for acting exactly like the nations they are being used to punish.   In one way of thinking, it's very sad that the Babylonians are so arrogant.  Had they been aware of Jewish history, and understood their place in the unfolding story of mankind they might have behaved differently, and enjoyed the Lord's favor.   As it was, they were completely destroyed by another army....after the Medes and Persians comes Alexander the Great.    But we will hear more about the prophecies concerning him in the book of Daniel.

PR