OCTOBER 16 READING…JEREMIAH 50-51 & PSALM 137
Jeremiah’s final prophecy is against Babylon. He speaks of their sudden destruction decades before it happens. I am more than sure that the Babylonians felt there was no power on earth that could defeat them. Yet, we know that they fell in one night. God had spoken through a hand writing on the wall that they were finished. Daniel interpreted the writing for the then king of Babylon. And it was that very night that Jeremiah’s prophecy came true and the Medo-Persian army overthrew Babylon. Their defeat would be total, and the devastation great. God brought this mighty kingdom to nothing in His judgment. For their brutality against Judah, they would receive the same from the Lord. Babylon was God’s tool of discipline against sinful Judah, but they went too far in their brutality and bloodshed. God would hold them accountable, and His judgment would bring them to total destruction. The Psalmist laments what has been lost to Judah through the decades of their exile in Babylon. The people had lost their homeland, and they were missing it terribly. Once again, they refused to listen to Jeremiah, for he told them of the day and time when they would be sent back by King Cyrus of Persia. They we in exile because of their disobedience, once God’s discipline is completed they would be able to return to their own country. No one likes to be displaced, nor put into captivity by anyone or anything. Yet, like Judah, we place ourselves in spiritual exile from God, and we find ourselves living far away from where we know we need to be. The same God who brought Judah out of exile, and returned them home, will do the same for us if we will repent, and call out to Him.
Please share your thoughts.
TOMORROW’S READING…JEREMIAH 52 & LAMENTATIONS 1 & PSALM 74