Punishing the Tool

Jeremiah 51

The sovereignty of God shows up like no other in this chapter. This is the account from God of what He is going to do to Babylon because of what it has done to God's people. At the end of this chapter (vs.56), Jeremiah records that God is a God of recompense and He will fully repay. The idea here is that God will not allow the nation of Babylon to get away with what it has done to His people. The word "fully" is a strong word here. God does not just say that He will pay them back for what they have done; rather, He says that He will fully pay them back. That means that there will not be one iota overlooked on God's part. If there is a water tower of His wrath that is to be poured out on the nation of Babylon, then God will work until every last drop of that water tower is released upon them.

Here is the part that I can see so clearly that just lifts God to the highest places in my mind. Back in verse 20, God says this about the nation of Babylon, "You are My war-club, My weapon of war; and with you I shatter nations, and with you I destroy kingdoms. With you I shatter the horse and his rider, and with you I shatter the chariot and its rider, and with you I shatter man and woman, and with you I shatter old man and youth, and with you I shatter young man and virgin, and with you I shatter the shepherd and his flock, and with you I shatter the farmer and his team, and with you I shatter governors and prefects." This is what God says about the nation of Babylon. This heinous nation was actually a tool in the hand of God to do just what God wanted them to do. There wasn't one man that was killed that God had not ordained. There was not one fire set that God had not decided before hand would be set. These people, including Nebuchadnezzar, did all that God wanted and purposed.

Then in verse 24, Jeremiah records, "But I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea for all their evil that they have done in Zion before your eyes," declares the Lord. "Behold I am against you, O destroying mountain, who destroys the whole earth," declares the Lord...This paints a very clear picture that this nation was a tool in the hands of God to do the purposes of God, but that does not mean that God excuses what they have done. They are now going to have to pay for all of the sin and idolatry that they have committed. God goes on to say that He will stretch out His hand against them and roll them down from the crags, and make them a burnt out mountain. It sounds as if God started out almost praising them for the work that He was able to do through them and then ends by condemning them for what they did to His people (who were being punished by God by the way).

Here in is the sovereignty of God...to do what He wants with His creation when He wants to do it in any way that He wants to do it. It's not too often that I hear about the Sovereignty of God in this capacity. So what does this mean in my own life though...this means that as a child of God I know that I am loved by the King. That does NOT mean though that I will be used by God for only good easy purposes. I might end up dying at the hands of my enemies in order to fulfill what God wants. I might end up losing those whom I love very dearly in order to bring God glory. It means that those who have been against me in this life have really been used by God in one way or another to make me more into the image of His Son. God used Babylon to get to Israel to wake them up out of their Idolatrous slumber that they had fallen into. In the same manner, God could use some ungodly avenue to get my attention.

Overall, this chapter reminded me solidly of God right to do what He wants with His creation. Isaiah 55:8-9 says, "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,' declares the Lord.'For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts." There is no telling what God is doing right now and that is not for me to know. What I have is His Word at my hand, and that is what has been revealed to me. I need to be studying it and resting in the sovereignty of God. He will only allow things to come my way that have gone through the sovereign grasp of his almighty fingers. He will not allow me to be tempted beyond what I am able, but with the temptation will provide the way to of escape....and all for His glory.

Soli Deo Gloria...

The Two Fold Plan of God – Jeremiah 50

Jeremiah 50 - The Wrath of God

This chapter has so many different aspects of God in it. God's love, mercy, patience, and steadfastness are seen towards His chosen people. He said that He would leave a remnant. But the overwhelming characteristic that I was able to pick up in this chapter is the wrath of God. Babylon, while used by God to discipline God's children, is now at the receiving end of God's wrath. God has decided and planned to utterly destroy the Babylonians. He will not let the evil that they have done go unpunished. Verse 45 says, "Therefore hear the plan of the Lord which He has planned against Babylon, and His purposes which He has purposed against the land of the Chaldeans." There is a plan and a purpose to what Jeremiah and the other Israelites are going through. It is a two-fold plan.

1. God is the Faithful Father - He must discipline/train those who are His. If He did not then He would not be a good father and nor would we be His legitimate children. He would not love us and we would go off and do all that we wanted to do (Hebrews 12:7-11). The Israelites (God's Chosen) had decided that they were going to go and worship who they wanted when they wanted. From the beginning of this book they had decided not only to go and do whatever they felt like doing, but they were going to put people in charge of them who would purposely point them in that direction (Jeremiah 5:31). That sounds an awful lot like what Paul tells Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:3 when he says, "For the time will come when they not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths." For myself today, I need to be reminded and live in such a way as to please my heavenly Father and not further put Him in a position where He must discipline me.
   


2. God is the just Judge: He must sentence and condemn those who are not His, even if He has used them for His purposes. There is evil in this world and if God is who He has said He is, then He must not only judge those whom have done evil, but He must sentence and condemn those who have committed sins against Him. My first instinct is to look at the world around me and say, "Yep, your time is coming." But that sounds almost like the Pharisee who stood above the tax gather and pointed down at him saying, "Thank you Lord for not making me like that person." My job isn't to look around and figure out who God is going to condemn and who belongs to Him. My job is to look at the world through His eyes and weep for everyone realizing as I go that if were it not by the grace of God, I would be under the same condemnation as the rest of the world. I would not have found God if He had not first found me, I would have not have responded to God if He had not first done a redemptive work in me, I would not have loved God if He had not first loved me. I can take zero credit for anything that I have done in the way of coming to know the Lord Jesus Christ...that is all the work of God for His glory alone. God is the just Judge and when all of time is complete, He will commit one final act of Judging...I have no choice but to weep and plead with men today about what is to come.
   

There was a lot to this chapter and I am sure that as I go through and read Calvin's thoughts on this chapter more things will be stirred up in me. But for now, for today, I need to rejoice in the fact that I am His child saved by His Son all for His glory. I also need to be praying for those who I will pass by on my way in to work, those who will serve me any food that I order today, those who I pay to any kind of work...the wrath of God is building and in His final act of Judging, He will release that wrath out on anyone who is not found in Christ. Soli Deo Gloria