“Israel is not forsaken, nor Judah, by his God, the Lord of hosts, though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel” God’s grace makes the difference. May the Lord help us all to open our hearts to the truth that only by God’s grace are we saved through faith in Him.
“Thus says the Lord: “Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, against those who dwell in Leb Kamai, a destroying wind. And I will send winnowers to Babylon, who shall winnow her and empty her land. For in the day of doom they shall be against her all around. Against her let the archer bend his bow and lift himself up against her in his armor. Do not spare her young men. Utterly destroy all her army. Thus the slain shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans, and those thrust through in her streets. For Israel is not forsaken, nor Judah, by his God, the Lord of hosts, though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel” Jeremiah 51:1-5
“Raise up a destroying wind” this Hebrew phrase is better translated a “arouse the spirit of a destroyer.” These words designate Babylon as the very heart, the life seat, of opposition against the Lord, the antichrist of the Old Testament, and a type of the New Testament antichrist.” [1]
Babylon resisted the wind of God’s Spirit which Daniel, a top official in their midst, had revealed to them. In Daniel 4:18, 5:11-14, two kings and one queen of Babylon acknowledged that the spirit of the holy God was in Daniel, but they did not convert to faith in Him. They rejected the life-giving wind of God and reaped the life-taking wind of Satan. In Job 1:19, the devil sent a wind against a home where Job’s sons and daughters were gathered. His wind took their lives.
On September 18, 2004, the winds of hurricane Ivan drove waves as high as 15 feet over the land of Destin, Florida. The wind and waves ravaged houses and property. In the days that followed, homeless survivors had blank looks on their faces. Their shoulders were sagging. When we empathized with their losses, they broke down and cried. We hugged. They wept.
To winnow wheat is to throw wheat into the air so that the wind catches the chaff and blows it away. The heavier wheat falls back down into the tray from which it was tossed upward. Babylon was useless chaff. Those who called upon the Name of the Lord were the wheat.
In Matthew 3:12, John the Baptist spoke of the Messiah as a winnower of wheat and a burner of chaff. In Luke 13:5, Jesus warned people to repent or perish. The people of Jerusalem, for the most part did not repent. They crucified Him. Nearly, 40 years later about one million perished.
In 70 AD, the Roman army, led by Titus, besieged and destroyed Jerusalem. Starvation and plagues ensued. The fall of Jerusalem resulted in the deaths of approximately one million Jews and the enslavement of tens of thousands more.
On the Day of Pentecost, about 40 years prior the Roman siege by Titus, the Holy Spirit filled the disciples of Jesus. They began preaching boldly about Jesus in Jerusalem. Then, persecution broke out against them so they departed and took the Gospel to other regions. Thus, most of those who repented and believed in Jesus were not in Jerusalem when it was destroyed. They avoided the winds of war because they were moved along by the wind of the Holy Spirit.
“Flee from the midst of Babylon, and every one save his life! Do not be cut off in her iniquity, for this is the time of the Lord’s vengeance. He shall recompense her.” Jeremiah 51:6
When God pronounces judgments against your nation and your nation refuses to repent, pray! The Lord helped Noah to avoid a flood. He helped Lot to avoid a fire. He helped Joseph, Mary, and Jesus to avoid a sword. In Psalm 32:7, King David wrote, “You [God] are my hiding place.”
Whether pagans or apostates, the Lord advises His faithful ones to come away from those who are about to incur His wrath. In Exodus 32, the people began to worship a golden calf while Moses was up on Mount Sinai receiving the Ten Commandments. When he saw the mayhem, he said in Exodus 32:26, “Whoever is on the Lord’s side—come to me!” All the sons of Levi gathered to him. 3,000 men fell that day. The Lord gave a similar word to the Corinthians. In 2 Corinthians 6:17, Paul wrote, “Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you.”
3,000 men died during the rebellion against God in the days of Moses, but 3,000 people were saved and filled with the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. This events illustrate what the Lord said in 2 Corinthians 3:6, “The letter [of the Law] kills, but the Spirit gives life.” Or as Martin Luther put it, “The Law discovers the disease. The Gospel gives the remedy.”
“Babylon was a golden cup in the Lord’s hand, which made all the earth drunk. The nations drank her wine; therefore, the nations are deranged.” Jeremiah 51:7
“Babylon’s influence was like strong wine to the nations which idolized Babylon in spite of her cruel arrogance, her avarice, her selfish exploitation.” [2]
Babylon looked good on the outside – gold, but her wine caused derangement. People began to see good as evil and evil as good. Inside Babylon’s beautiful cup was a bad brew... a spirit of lawlessness like Paul mentioned in 2 Thessalonians 2:7. As people drank Babylon’s wine, they became proud, dark-hearted, debased, evil-minded, and violent. (Romans 1:21-32)
“Urban missiologist Ray Bakke observes, ‘Throughout the Bible, Babylon is a symbol of the city which is anti-God.’” “As Augustine studied the Bible, he discovered that Babylon represented the City of Man standing against the City of God. Then, as he examined his own culture, he realized that Rome had become the capital City of Man.”
“The most popular idol in Babylon was mammon. The idol makers were chiefly goldsmiths. They plundered gold and jewels from all their enemies and carried them back to their fabulous palaces. Robert Linthicum issues this stinging indictment: ‘In essence, all the rest of the world has become the third world to Babylon. Babylon was enriched but the price was the destitution of the other countries and peoples of the world. Babylon’s greed and lust for wealth and economic security raped the rest of the world, leaving it helpless and destitute, unable to cope either nationally or individually with the exigencies of life. The radical impoverishment of the world, both of its peoples and its natural resources, meant nothing to Babylon, as long as she could have her little niceties and obscene luxuries.” [3]
“Babylon has suddenly fallen and been destroyed. Wail for her! Take balm for her pain; perhaps she may be healed. We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed. Forsake her and let us go everyone to his own country; for her judgment reaches to heaven and is lifted up to the skies.” Jeremiah 51:8-9
The Lord called for lamentation. He called for a healing balm. God loves even His enemies. His messengers would have stayed behind to heal her, but she refused to be healed. So, the Lord advised them to return to their own countries. When a nation’s criminal record is so long that it reaches to heaven, and she refuses to repent, her sentence will be devastating.
“The Lord has revealed our righteousness. Come and let us declare in Zion the work of the Lord our God.” Jeremiah 51:10
The Lord revealed that His avenging hand was vindicating His chosen people. He urges His people to return to Zion in order to proclaim, “the work of the Lord, our God.” [4]
The cure for Babylon’s disease cannot be purchased at a pharmacy or be discovered at a lab. Her disease was sin. No human can remove sin. Only God can! Amidst the pain and trials of exile, God revealed to His people that righteousness originates with Him. It is God’s work. When anyone turns to the Lord, He accounts their faith in Him as righteousness. As Habakkuk 2:4 says, “The just [righteous] shall live by faith [in God].” Babylon refused to believe in the Lord.
“Make the arrows bright! Gather the shields! The Lord has raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes. For His plan is against Babylon to destroy it because it is the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance for His temple. Set up the standard on the walls of Babylon. Make the guard strong. Set up the watchmen. Prepare the ambushes. For the Lord has both devised and done what He spoke against the inhabitants of Babylon.” Jeremiah 51:11-12
The Babylonians destroyed God’s temple in Jerusalem with a sinister delight. The Lord was after them to repent, but since they refused to do so, their nation declined. Arrows, shields, and kings came against them to destroy them!
“O you who dwell by many waters, abundant in treasures, your end has come, the measure of your covetousness. The Lord of hosts has sworn by Himself: surely I will fill you with men, as with locusts, and they shall lift up a shout against you. He has made the earth by His power. He has established the world by His wisdom and stretched out the heaven by His understanding. When He utters His voice—there is a multitude of waters in the heavens. He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth. He makes lightnings for the rain. He brings the wind out of His treasuries.” Jeremiah 51:13-16
At the moment of this prophesy, all was well with Babylon. They were rich. Their thirst for pleasure was abundantly quenched. But the armies of foreign nations were approaching like a swarm of locusts ready to consume all that Babylon held dear. The Maker of heaven and earth guaranteed it! God was going to channel the winds of change toward Babylon. By the way, the end times Babylon also experiences an army that is compared to locusts in Revelation 9:7.
“Everyone is dull-hearted, without knowledge. Every metalsmith is put to shame by the carved image; for his molded image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. They are futile, a work of errors. In the time of their punishment, they shall perish. The Portion of Jacob is not like them, for He is the Maker of all things; and Israel is the tribe of His inheritance. The Lord of hosts is His Name.” Jeremiah 51:17-19
Idols are lifeless and worthless. Manmade idols cannot save anyone. The descendants of Jacob had a better portion than their wealthy captors. They had the true and living God. Babylon had built their house on sand. Jacob’s descendants had the Word of God. When Israel returned to the Lord, they were back on a solid foundation. It was only a manner of time until Babylon’s foundation crumbled. Israel’s house would not only stand the test of time it would expand.
“You are My battle-ax and weapons of war: for with you I will break the nation in pieces; with you I will destroy kingdoms; with you I will break in pieces the horse and its rider; with you I will break in pieces the chariot and its rider; with you also I will break in pieces man and woman; with you I will break in pieces old and young; with you I will break in pieces the young man and the maiden; with you also I will break in pieces the shepherd and his flock; with you I will break in pieces the farmer and his yoke of oxen; and with you I will break in pieces governors and rulers.” Jeremiah 51:20-23
The Medes became God’s battle-axe to chop down Babylon’s military defenses and to kill her food producers (shepherds and farmers). This word harkens back to the potter who shattered his clay pot and reformed it, as well as to Jeremiah’s calling to uproot and plant.
“And I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea for all the evil they have done in Zion in your sight, says the Lord. Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain, who destroys all the earth, says the Lord. And I will stretch out My hand against you, roll you down from the rocks, and make you a burnt mountain. They shall not take from you a stone for a corner nor a stone for a foundation, but you shall be desolate forever, says the Lord.” Jeremiah 51:24-26
What is happening? God is repaying those who have treated His people cruelly. The Lord is against the mountain (the evil empire) that destroys all the earth. He is crumbling her into dust and not leaving one rock upon another.
In Mark 11:22-23, Jesus told His disciples, “Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.” Jesus was not referring to “the name it claim it” doctrine of money-minded evangelists here. He had previously cursed a fruitless fig tree, and it died. His disciples were amazed. The context of this passage is that instead of finding fruit in Jerusalem, Jesus found a mountain of corruption. The sky-high religious hypocrisy in Jerusalem required faith in God to bring it down.
Revelation 8:8 reveals something like a great mountain burning with fire thrown into the sea. This event illustrates the prophecy that evil will be uprooted before holiness is planted.
“Set up a banner in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations! Prepare the nations against her, call the kingdoms together against her: Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz. Appoint a general against her; cause the horses to come up like the bristling locusts. Prepare against her the nations, with the kings of the Medes, its governors and all its rulers, all the land of his dominion. And the land will tremble and sorrow; for every purpose of the Lord shall be performed against Babylon, to make the land of Babylon a desolation without inhabitant.” Jeremiah 51:27-29
“Jeremiah mentioned the invaders by name. Babylon would be attacked by the Medes and the Ashkenazi, the peoples of Armenia and Kurdistan who were conquered by Cyrus and his Persian army in 550 BC. Their attack would be carefully coordinated.” [5]
“The mighty men of Babylon have ceased fighting. They have remained in their strongholds. Their might has failed. They became like women. They have burned her dwelling places. The bars of her gate are broken. One runner will run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to show the king of Babylon that his city is taken on all sides. The passages are blocked. The reeds they have burned with fire, and the men of war are terrified. For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: the daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor when it is time to thresh her; yet a little while and the time of her harvest will come.” Jeremiah 51:30-33
Cowardice is common trait among the armies of nations that God judges. Previously, Babylon’s army conquered the world. Now, they are afraid to come out of their bunkers. They are being threshed like wheat. “They are taking a thrashing.”
“Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me. He has crushed me. He has made me an empty vessel. He has swallowed me up like a monster. He has filled his stomach with my delicacies. He has spit me out. ‘Let the violence done to me and my flesh be upon Babylon,’ the inhabitant of Zion will say; ‘and my blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea!’ Jerusalem will say.” Jeremiah 51:34-35
King Nebuchadnezzar is compared to a monster that swallowed and spit God’s people out. This imagery is used in the Book of Daniel and in Revelation to describe the antichrist who enjoys hurting and destroying people. Daniel 7:7 says, “After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth; it was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the residue with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns.” In Revelation 13, John “saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name.” Those who worshiped it, said, “Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?” These beasts demand absolute loyalty to their ungodly agendas.
“Therefore thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will plead your case and take vengeance for you. I will dry up her sea and make her springs dry. Babylon shall become a heap, a dwelling place for jackals, an astonishment, and a hissing, without an inhabitant. They shall roar together like lions they shall growl like lions’ whelps. In their excitement I will prepare their feasts. I will make them drunk, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep and not awake, says the Lord. I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with male goats.’” Jeremiah 51:36-40
I am glad that the Lord pleads the case of His people and takes vengeance on those who hurt us. Romans 12:19 says, “Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge. I will repay,’ says the Lord.”
To plead the cause of another is to be their advocate. There’s no better advocate than God. I like to say, “God plus one is a majority.” In 1 John 1:1-2, Jesus is our Advocate with the Father. “My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.” When the devil reminds me of my sins, I remind him that Jesus is my Advocate. According to Jeremiah 31:34, “God remembers my sin no more.”
The Holy Spirit is our Advocate. Jesus said in John 14:16, “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate to help you and be with you forever.” And in John 14:26, He said, “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My Name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
God promised to dry up Babylon’s waters and turn her city into ruins. A no man’s land! Instead of God’s people being slaughtered, the Babylonians would be the victims of the slaughter.
“O, how Sheshach is taken! O, how the praise of the whole earth is seized! How Babylon has become desolate among the nations! The sea has come up over Babylon. She is covered with the multitude of its waves. Her cities are a desolation, a dry land and a wilderness, a land where no one dwells, through which no son of man passes.” Jeremiah 51:41-43
Sheshach is a code word for Babylon. Surprise is expressed that such a great empire could end so abruptly. It was as though a wave washed a sandcastle away. There is a similar cry in the last days when the end times Babylon empire is destroyed. The merchants cry, “Woe! Woe to you, great city, dressed in fine linen, purple and scarlet, and glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls! In one hour such great wealth has been brought to ruin!”
“I will punish Bel in Babylon, and I will bring out of his mouth what he has swallowed; and the nations shall not stream to him anymore. Yes, the wall of Babylon shall fall.” Jeremiah 51:44
God makes Bel spew out the people he swallowed. As I read this, the book of Jonah came to my mind. Jonah had disobeyed the Lord. He was taken captive in the belly of a great fish, but then, Jonah repented. He prayed. And then, the Lord caused the fish to spew him out on dry land.
The wall of Babylon was about to fall. Her inmates would be free.
“My people, go out of the midst of her! And let everyone deliver himself from the fierce anger of the Lord. And lest your heart faint, and you fear for the rumor that will be heard in the land (a rumor will come one year, and after that, in another year a rumor will come, and violence in the land, ruler against ruler). Therefore behold, the days are coming that I will bring judgment on the carved images of Babylon. Her whole land shall be ashamed. All her slain shall fall in her midst. Then the heavens and the earth and all that is in them shall sing joyously over Babylon; for the plunderers shall come to her from the north, says the Lord.” Jeremiah 51:45-48
God warned His people a second time to leave Babylon. “Come out of her, my people! Run for your lives! Run from the fierce anger of the Lord.” There’s a similar word in Revelation 18:4-5, “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues; for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes.”
“As Babylon has caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon the slain of all the earth shall fall. You who have escaped the sword, get away! Do not stand still! Remember the Lord afar off, and let Jerusalem come to your mind.” Jeremiah 51:49-50
The above passage parallels Revelation 18:6, “Give back to her as she has given; pay her back double for what she has done. Pour her a double portion from her own cup.” Give back to her as she has given! “Let Jerusalem come to your mind!” “People of God, you are going home!”
“We are ashamed because we have heard reproach. Shame has covered our faces, for strangers have come into the sanctuaries of the Lord’s house. Therefore behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that I will bring judgment on her carved images, and throughout all her land the wounded shall groan. Though Babylon were to mount up to heaven, and though she were to fortify the height of her strength, yet from Me plunderers would come to her, says the Lord.” Jeremiah 51:51-53
“Babylon would meet the same fate as Babel, for ‘man’s attempt to build himself up to the skies ends only in building up his judgment.’” [6]
“The sound of a cry comes from Babylon, and great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans, because the Lord is plundering Babylon and silencing her loud voice, though her waves roar like great waters, and the noise of their voice is uttered, because the plunderer comes against her, against Babylon, and her mighty men are taken. Every one of their bows is broken; for the Lord is the God of recompense. He will surely repay. And I will make drunk her princes and wise men, her governors, her deputies, and her mighty men. And they shall sleep a perpetual sleep and not awake, says the King, whose Name is the Lord of hosts.” Jeremiah 51:54-57
The Lord assures His people that Babylon will not arise again. She shall sleep. Israel and Judah are going home. Anyone who has experienced years of abuse may find it hard to believe that it is over when it is over. So, the Lord assures them that it is over. A new day has arrived!
“Thus says the Lord of hosts: the broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; the people will labor in vain, and the nations, because of the fire; and they shall be weary.” Jeremiah 51:58
“The first news seems to refer to the collapse of the defenses outside the city. These were vast. In addition to the two massive walls surrounding the heart of Babylon, an inner one some 21 feet thick and an outer one over 12 feet thick, there were great walls thrown up at intervals beyond the city together with a chain of fortresses north and south of the city.” “According to Herodotus, the outer walls of Babylon were 300 feet high and seventy-five feet wide, wide enough to drive several chariots abreast. Yet they would all fall down, furnishing more fuel for the flames of divine judgment.” [7]
“The Word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. And Seraiah was the quartermaster. So Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that would come upon Babylon, all these Words that are written against Babylon. And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, ‘When you arrive in Babylon and see it, and read all these words, then you shall say, ‘O Lord, You have spoken against this place to cut it off, so that none shall remain in it, neither man nor beast, but it shall be desolate forever.’ Now it shall be, when you have finished reading this book, that you shall tie a stone to it and throw it out into the Euphrates. Then you shall say, ‘Thus Babylon shall sink and not rise from the catastrophe that I will bring upon her. And they shall be weary.’ Thus far are the Words of Jeremiah.” Jeremiah 51:59-64
Jeremiah instructed his cousin Seraiah to take the scroll to Babylon, read it, and afterwards remind the Lord of His promise to destroy the city. Then, tie a stone to the scroll and throw it into the Euphrates River. After throwing the scroll into the river, he was to declare that Babylon would sink to never rise again. Jeremiah’s prophecy began with words of Babylon’s climb to superpower status and ended it with the promise of Babylon’s demise.
In the last days, an empire like unto Babylon will arise and afterwards be destroyed. Then, New Jerusalem will down from heaven as a bride prepared for the Lord.
“The similarities between Jeremiah and Revelation are numerous. One might almost say that Revelation 17–19 is based on Jeremiah 50–51. Like Jeremiah, John saw a golden cup in the hand of Babylon. He exposed her idolatry, especially her love for excessive luxuries. He accused her of violence against God’s people. He warned God’s people to flee from her on the Day of Judgment.” “Most striking of all, John’s vision included a stone cast into the watery depths: ‘Then a mighty angel picked up a boulder the size of a large millstone and threw it into the sea and said: ‘With such violence the great city of Babylon will be thrown down, never to be found again.’” “John’s vision was as heavy as Jeremiah’s prophecy. When Jeremiah caused a stone to be thrown into the Euphrates, he was prophesying about the end of history, when the City of Satan will sink to the bottom of the sea. Jeremiah was among the first to celebrate the victory of Jesus Christ over sin, death, the devil, and all the enemies of God.” [8]
Romans 11:32 says, “God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that He may have mercy on them all.” So, whether a descendant of Israel or a Gentile, God’s mercy saves us. Paul wrote to the competitive Christians in 1 Corinthians 4:7, “Who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?” Salvation is received as a gift from God. Romans 3:22-24 says, “There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”
If we are not careful, our greatest strength will become our greatest weakness. Babylon enjoyed superpower status, but did not turn to the Lord. They lost everything. Israel incurred captivity, but DID turn to Lord. God saved them and restored them to the Promised Land.
[1] Dr. Theo Laetsch, Bible Commentary Jeremiah, Concordia Paperback Edition, 1965, ©, pages 360. See also Revelation 17:5.
[2] Dr. Theo Laetsch, Bible Commentary Jeremiah, Concordia Paperback Edition, 1965, ©, pages 361. See also Habakkuk 2:6-17
[3] Dr. Phillip Graham Ryken, Jeremiah and Lamentations from Sorrow to Hope, Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL, © 2001, p. 712-714
[4] Dr. Theo Laetsch, Bible Commentary Jeremiah, Concordia Paperback Edition, 1965, ©, pages 362.
[5] Dr. Phillip Graham Ryken, Jeremiah and Lamentations from Sorrow to Hope, Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL, © 2001, p. 703-705
[6] Dr. Phillip Graham Ryken, Jeremiah and Lamentations from Sorrow to Hope, Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL, © 2001, p. 709-710
[7] Dr. Phillip Graham Ryken, Jeremiah and Lamentations from Sorrow to Hope, Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL, © 2001, p. 707-708
[8] Dr. Phillip Graham Ryken, Jeremiah and Lamentations from Sorrow to Hope, Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL, © 2001, p. 715-718. See also Revelation 17:4, 18:3-5, 7, 11-21
Outcomes I seek: To glorify Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior - To build people's faith in Christ
Monday, October 13, 2025
Saved By God’s Grace
The Lord Jesus has graced me with revelations from the Book of Jeremiah that are helpful to better understanding the relevance of the Law, the Prophets, the Gospel, the Apostles, and the Book of Revelation. I am in the midst of preparing 54 video-recorded presentations, one for each chapter of Jeremiah, plus an intro and conclusion presentation. When the presentations are done, I plan to publish them on YouTube. I also welcome invitations to share these revelations in-person. In the meantime, I publish articles online, intercede for the peoples of the nations, and say to the Lord, “Here am I Lord, send me.”
Sunday, October 12, 2025
Restoration
The Lord gives Jeremiah a prophetic word for Babylon and for His people in exile there. Jeremiah 51:60 says, “Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that would come upon Babylon.” Jeremiah 51:59 says that he commanded Seraiah his cousin to take this prophecy to Babylon. Seriah brought the prophecy to Babylon during fourth year of King Zedekiah of Judah’s reign. Seriah is the brother of Baruch who also helped Jeremiah. [1]
“The Word that the Lord spoke against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet. ‘Declare among the nations, proclaim, and set up a standard. Proclaim —do not conceal it—say, ‘Babylon is taken, Bel is shamed. Merodach is broken in pieces. Her idols are humiliated. Her images are broken in pieces.’” Jeremiah 50:1-2
“Declare among the nations, proclaim... proclaim... do not conceal it... BABYLON IS TAKEN. Bel and Merodach are two names for the same Babylonian god. “Bel” means “lord.” God connects the news of Babylon’s fall with the breaking of her idols. In Jeremiah 18:1-10, the Lord speaks of Himself as a potter who has the right to destroy a marred pot and reform the clay into a new pot. Babylon is broken. God is going to do a new work in the earth without her.
“For out of the north a nation comes up against her, which shall make her land desolate, and no one shall dwell therein. They shall move, they shall depart, both man and beast. In those days and in that time, says the Lord, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together; with continual weeping they shall come, and seek the Lord their God. They shall ask the way to Zion, with their faces toward it, saying, ‘Come and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that will not be forgotten.’” Jeremiah 50:3-5
The Medes was the nation from the north of Babylon. King Cyrus brought the first wave of devastation. King Darius brought a second and even more thorough wave of destruction. He mercilessly slaughtered the inhabitants. He hung 4,000 nobles.
As this devastation takes places, Israel’s and Judah’s exiles will begin to weep and seek the Lord. They will want to return to the Promised Land. They are now willing to enter a perpetual covenant with the Lord. This is what the Lord was longing for way back in Jeremiah 2:2-3, where He said to them, “I remember you, the kindness of your youth, the love of your betrothal... Israel was holiness to the Lord.” Holiness means separated unto Him for a special purpose... set apart to be in a committed relationship with God.
In Acts 11:23, Barnabas exhorted the new believers in Antioch to cleave unto the Lord. Cleaving to someone is marriage language. In 2 Corinthians 8:5, Paul speaks of those who gave their selves to the Lord. The first commandment is to the love the Lord with all our being. This is what God wants. He wants to love us and be loved by us.
“My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have led them astray; they have turned them away on the mountains. They have gone from mountain to hill; they have forgotten their resting place. All who found them have devoured them; and their adversaries said, ‘We have not offended, because they have sinned against the Lord, the habitation of justice, the Lord, the hope of their fathers.’” Jeremiah 50:6-7
The previous shepherds of Israel and Judah did not guide the Lord’s flock to love Him and trust Him. Going from the mountain to the hill may refer to going from His commandments that were given to them on Mount Sinai to going to the groves on the hills where they worshiped idols. The shepherds failed to model how to rest in the Lord. They did not protect the sheep from false teaching. Those who hurt them felt justified in doing so because they had turned their back on the God.
“Move from the midst of Babylon, go out of the land of the Chaldeans; and be like the rams before the flocks. For behold, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the north country, and they shall array themselves against her; from there she shall be captured. Their arrows shall be like those of an expert warrior; none shall return in vain. And Chaldea shall become plunder. All who plunder her shall be satisfied, says the Lord.” Jeremiah 50:8-10
The Lord tells His people to move away from Babylon. A very similar word appears in Revelation 18:4, “I heard another voice from heaven saying, ‘Come out of her, My people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues.’” In the Book of Revelation, Babylon refers to an evil empire that enforces its agenda on the world. God promises to end that empire as well. In Jeremiah and Revelation, the downfall of Babylon precedes the Promised Land being restored.
“Because you were glad, because you rejoiced, you destroyers of My heritage, because you have grown fat like a heifer threshing grain, and you bellow like bulls, your mother shall be deeply ashamed. She who bore you shall be ashamed. Behold, the least of the nations shall be a wilderness, a dry land and a desert.” Jeremiah 50:11-12
The Lord is speaking to Babylon here. He is destroying her because she had a sinister joy in destroying His people. He appointed Babylon to humble His people but she went too far. She grew fat by exploiting them. Even the mothers of Babylon were ashamed of their behavior. The Lord prophesied that this great nation would become the least. She will dry up.
After the Lord has chastised His wayward people, He rescues them from Babylon. “While the enemies of Israel had been instruments of God, yet they had pursued their own selfish interests in self-aggrandizement, and now the Covenant God is ready to punish Babylon as He had punished Nineveh. Koldewey reports that the ruins of Babylon in many places were covered with forty to eighty feet of sand and rubble.” [2]
“Because of the wrath of the Lord she shall not be inhabited, but she shall be wholly desolate. Everyone who goes by Babylon shall be horrified and hiss at all her plagues.” Jeremiah 50:13
One planted seed doesn’t just yield one seed in return but a plant that produces many more seeds. Babylon was going to reap a great harvest of plagues. In Revelation 18:6, God speaks a similar word of the end times Babylon, saying, “Render to her just as she rendered to you, and repay her double according to her works; in the cup which she has mixed, mix double for her.”
“Put yourselves in array against Babylon all around, all you who bend the bow. Shoot at her. Spare no arrows, for she has sinned against the Lord. Shout against her all around. She has given her hand. Her foundations have fallen. Her walls are thrown down for it is the vengeance of the Lord. Take vengeance on her. As she has done, so do to her. Cut off the sower from Babylon, and he who handles the sickle at harvest time. For fear of the oppressing sword everyone shall turn to his own people, and everyone shall flee to his own land.” Jeremiah 50:14-16
In Ephesians 6:16, the Lord says to take up the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.” Without faith in God, there is no atonement for sin, and without forgiveness of sin, the devil feels free to fire arrows at people. The Babylonians had put their trust in the one who wanted to destroy them, that is, the devil.
Shouters were to shout at Babylon. God’s instructions to Babylon’s attackers was, “Take vengeance on her. As she has done, so do to her.” Only under the blood of Christ do we receive God’s grace which is much better treatment than we deserve. Revelation 18:2, 7 says, “Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen... In the measure that she glorified herself and lived luxuriously, in the same measure give her torment and sorrow.”
“Israel is like scattered sheep; the lions have driven him away. First the king of Assyria devoured him; now at last this Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has broken his bones. Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria. But I will bring back Israel to his home, and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan. His soul shall be satisfied on Mount Ephraim and Gilead. In those days and in that time, says the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought, but there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, but they shall not be found; for I will pardon those whom I preserve.” Jeremiah 50:17-20
Despite Israel’s short-comings, the Lord saw His people as a flock that had been scattered by a lion. It was time for God to punish those who mistreated them and bring the tribes back to their homeland. He prophesies of pardoning Israel’s and Judah’s sin. No sin would be found in them.
“Go up against the land of Merathaim, against it, and against the inhabitants of Pekod. Waste and utterly destroy them, says the Lord, and do according to all that I have commanded you.” Jeremiah 50:21
“Merathaim and Pekod were real locations in Babylon. Ironically, those place names sounded like the Hebrew words for ‘double rebellion’ and ‘punishment.’” [3]
“A sound of battle is in the land, and of great destruction. How the hammer of the whole earth has been cut apart and broken! How Babylon has become a desolation among the nations! I have laid a snare for you; you have indeed been trapped, O Babylon, and you were not aware. You have been found and also caught because you have contended against the Lord.” Jeremiah 50:22-24
“Babylon was used to doing the hammering, but the hammer itself would be pounded into submission. Babylon was also used to doing the trapping. But God said: “I set a trap for you, Babylon, and you were caught before you knew it. You were found and captured because you opposed the Lord.” [4]
“The Lord has opened His armory and has brought out the weapons of His indignation; for this is the work of the Lord God of hosts in the land of the Chaldeans. Come against her from the farthest border. Open her storehouses. Cast her up as heaps of ruins and destroy her utterly. Let nothing of her be left. Slay all her bulls. Let them go down to the slaughter. Woe to them! For their day has come, the time of their punishment. The voice of those who flee and escape from the land of Babylon declares in Zion the vengeance of the Lord our God, the vengeance of His temple. Call together the archers against Babylon. All you who bend the bow, encamp against it all around; let none of them escape. Repay her according to her work; according to all she has done, do to her; for she has been proud against the Lord, against the Holy One of Israel. Therefore her young men shall fall in the streets, and all her men of war shall be cut off in that day, says the Lord.” Jeremiah 50:25-30
Babylon ruled the world so the Lord speaks of opening up His armory and grabbing His weapons. Leveling evil global empires is God’s work. The Lord slays her bulls meaning her mighty men who used to bully the nations. Now, they are fleeing and describing what happened to them. God surrounds Babylon with archers. He orders them to shoot. She has been proud against the Lord, but she will be proud against Him no more.
“Behold, I am against you, O most haughty one! says the Lord God of hosts; for your day has come, the time that I will punish you. The most proud shall stumble and fall, and no one will raise him up; I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it will devour all around him.” Jeremiah 50:31-32
The Lord appoints an expiration date for Babylon’s use. In that day, even her most mighty men stumble and fall. Her capital city is burned to the ground.
“Thus says the Lord of hosts: the children of Israel were oppressed, along with the children of Judah; all who took them captive have held them fast; they have refused to let them go. Their Redeemer is strong; the Lord of hosts is His Name. He will thoroughly plead their case, that He may give rest to the land, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.” Jeremiah 50:33-34
The Lord speaks of Babylon as a trapper who captured His people and held them captive. No manner of negotiations with her would convince her to let them go. But she underestimated the Redeemer’s love for Israel. She saw no worth in them, but they were the apple of God’s eye. The Lord took on the role of being Israel’s defense lawyer. He pled their cause. The Lord reversed their roles. Israel would enjoy freedom. Babylon would be ruled by others.
“A sword is against the Chaldeans, says the Lord, against the inhabitants of Babylon, and against her princes and her wise men. A sword is against the soothsayers, and they will be fools. A sword is against her mighty men, and they will be dismayed. A sword is against their horses, against their chariots, and against all the mixed peoples who are in her midst; and they will become like women. A sword is against her treasures, and they will be robbed.” Jeremiah 50:35-37
Who shall the sword of the Lord pursue? Pursue Babylon’s ruling class (the Chaldeans)! Pursue her common people. Pursue her politicians (princes and counselors). Pursue her soothsayers (cult leaders). Pursue her mighty men. Pursue her mobile militaries units (horses and chariots). Pursue her hired soldiers from other countries (mixed people). Pursue her financial reserves. The Lord’s sword would hit Babylon from every angle until she became very small.
“A drought is against her waters, and they will be dried up. For it is the land of carved images, and they are insane with their idols. Therefore, the wild desert beasts shall dwell there with the jackals, and the ostriches shall dwell in it. It shall be inhabited no more forever, nor shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation. As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors, says the Lord, so no one shall reside there, nor son of man dwell in it.” Jeremiah 50:38-40
Babylon was dried up before the flames of God’s judgment ignited her. She needed the living waters of God’s Spirit. In John 7:38, Jesus said, “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” The Babylonians trusted in lifeless idols. Idols lack living water. John 7:39 says, “He spoke this [about living water] concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive.” Idols have no water of God’s Spirit to give.
Psalm 106:36-37 associates idol worship with demon worship. “They served their idols, which became a snare to them. They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons.” 1 Corinthians 10:20 is a second witness to this, “The things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons.”
Babylon’s worship of idols yielded curses. They lost their minds. Their land was taken over by wild animals. As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, He was about to overthrow them.
“Behold, a people shall come from the north, and a great nation and many kings shall be raised up from the ends of the earth. They shall hold the bow and the lance; they are cruel and shall not show mercy. Their voice shall roar like the sea; they shall ride on horses, set in array, like a man for the battle, against you, O daughter of Babylon. The king of Babylon has heard the report about them, and his hands grow feeble; anguish has taken hold of him, pangs as of a woman in childbirth.” Jeremiah 50:41-43
The Lord raised up a coalition of kings from the north of Babylon to execute His judgment on her. They had ample weapons. They were bloodthirsty. They were coming with a mighty roar of a wave to crush them. Even before they arrived, Babylon had become weak and fearful.
“Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the floodplain of the Jordan against the dwelling place of the strong; but I will make them suddenly run away from her. And who is a chosen man that I may appoint over her? For whom is like Me? Who will arraign Me? And who is that shepherd who will withstand Me?” Jeremiah 50:44
The king coalition of forces that comes against Babylon is as mighty as a lion, but the Lord will protect His people in the midst of Babylon. No one, not even a lion, can stand against the Lord.
“Therefore hear the counsel of the Lord that He has taken against Babylon, and His purposes that He has proposed against the land of the Chaldeans: surely the least of the flock shall draw them out; surely He will make their dwelling place desolate with them. At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth trembles, and the cry is heard among the nations.” Jeremiah 50:45-46
The Lord brings down cruel empires. In Genesis 6:5, God destroyed the people whose thoughts were evil continually in the day of Noah. In Genesis 10:8-11, 11:1-9, God reduced Nimrod’s tower of Babel to rubble. In Revelation 18:8-10, God ends the last ungodly empire, “Therefore her plagues will come in one day—death and mourning and famine. She will be utterly burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judges her. The kings of the earth who committed fornication and lived luxuriously with her will weep and lament for her, when they see the smoke of her burning, standing at a distance for fear of her torment, saying, ‘Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! For in one hour your judgment has come.’”
“The story of the fall of Babylon in 539 B.C. is a remarkable one. The attack, which came from the northern side of the city, was made by a coalition of armies led by Cyrus the Persian.”
According to one account: “Cyrus made his successful assault on a night when the whole city, relying on the strength of the walls, had given themselves up to the riot and debauchery of a grand public festival, and the king and his nobles were reveling at a splendid entertainment.” Cyrus redirected the waters of a canal that flowed under Babylon’s wall to another direction. That canal became a road for his troops to enter the city and conquer it.
The contrast between Babylon’s ancient magnificence and its future desolation is great. This was quite a reversal. At the beginning of Jeremiah’s book, God brought charges against His people in Judea. By the end of the book, He has become their legal defender or advocate. He has gone from prosecuting attorney to defense attorney.” [5]
Who made the difference between Babylon and Israel? The Lord did! The Lord forgave Israel’s sins and gave Israel a new heart for Him. They professed that they wanted to be in a covenant relationship with Him once again. So, He brought them back to the Promised Land. All praise, glory and honor be to the Lord!
[1] Jeremiah 32:12; 36:4-26; 43:3; 45:1; 51:59
[2] Dr. Theo Laetsch, Bible Commentary Jeremiah, Concordia Paperback Edition, 1965, ©, pages 354-355
[3] Dr. Phillip Graham Ryken, Jeremiah and Lamentations from Sorrow to Hope, Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL, © 2001, p. 688
[4] Dr. Phillip Graham Ryken, Jeremiah and Lamentations from Sorrow to Hope, Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL, © 2001, p. 688
[5] Dr. Phillip Graham Ryken, Jeremiah and Lamentations from Sorrow to Hope, Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL, © 2001, p. 696-697
“The Word that the Lord spoke against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet. ‘Declare among the nations, proclaim, and set up a standard. Proclaim —do not conceal it—say, ‘Babylon is taken, Bel is shamed. Merodach is broken in pieces. Her idols are humiliated. Her images are broken in pieces.’” Jeremiah 50:1-2
“Declare among the nations, proclaim... proclaim... do not conceal it... BABYLON IS TAKEN. Bel and Merodach are two names for the same Babylonian god. “Bel” means “lord.” God connects the news of Babylon’s fall with the breaking of her idols. In Jeremiah 18:1-10, the Lord speaks of Himself as a potter who has the right to destroy a marred pot and reform the clay into a new pot. Babylon is broken. God is going to do a new work in the earth without her.
“For out of the north a nation comes up against her, which shall make her land desolate, and no one shall dwell therein. They shall move, they shall depart, both man and beast. In those days and in that time, says the Lord, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together; with continual weeping they shall come, and seek the Lord their God. They shall ask the way to Zion, with their faces toward it, saying, ‘Come and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that will not be forgotten.’” Jeremiah 50:3-5
The Medes was the nation from the north of Babylon. King Cyrus brought the first wave of devastation. King Darius brought a second and even more thorough wave of destruction. He mercilessly slaughtered the inhabitants. He hung 4,000 nobles.
As this devastation takes places, Israel’s and Judah’s exiles will begin to weep and seek the Lord. They will want to return to the Promised Land. They are now willing to enter a perpetual covenant with the Lord. This is what the Lord was longing for way back in Jeremiah 2:2-3, where He said to them, “I remember you, the kindness of your youth, the love of your betrothal... Israel was holiness to the Lord.” Holiness means separated unto Him for a special purpose... set apart to be in a committed relationship with God.
In Acts 11:23, Barnabas exhorted the new believers in Antioch to cleave unto the Lord. Cleaving to someone is marriage language. In 2 Corinthians 8:5, Paul speaks of those who gave their selves to the Lord. The first commandment is to the love the Lord with all our being. This is what God wants. He wants to love us and be loved by us.
“My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have led them astray; they have turned them away on the mountains. They have gone from mountain to hill; they have forgotten their resting place. All who found them have devoured them; and their adversaries said, ‘We have not offended, because they have sinned against the Lord, the habitation of justice, the Lord, the hope of their fathers.’” Jeremiah 50:6-7
The previous shepherds of Israel and Judah did not guide the Lord’s flock to love Him and trust Him. Going from the mountain to the hill may refer to going from His commandments that were given to them on Mount Sinai to going to the groves on the hills where they worshiped idols. The shepherds failed to model how to rest in the Lord. They did not protect the sheep from false teaching. Those who hurt them felt justified in doing so because they had turned their back on the God.
“Move from the midst of Babylon, go out of the land of the Chaldeans; and be like the rams before the flocks. For behold, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the north country, and they shall array themselves against her; from there she shall be captured. Their arrows shall be like those of an expert warrior; none shall return in vain. And Chaldea shall become plunder. All who plunder her shall be satisfied, says the Lord.” Jeremiah 50:8-10
The Lord tells His people to move away from Babylon. A very similar word appears in Revelation 18:4, “I heard another voice from heaven saying, ‘Come out of her, My people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues.’” In the Book of Revelation, Babylon refers to an evil empire that enforces its agenda on the world. God promises to end that empire as well. In Jeremiah and Revelation, the downfall of Babylon precedes the Promised Land being restored.
“Because you were glad, because you rejoiced, you destroyers of My heritage, because you have grown fat like a heifer threshing grain, and you bellow like bulls, your mother shall be deeply ashamed. She who bore you shall be ashamed. Behold, the least of the nations shall be a wilderness, a dry land and a desert.” Jeremiah 50:11-12
The Lord is speaking to Babylon here. He is destroying her because she had a sinister joy in destroying His people. He appointed Babylon to humble His people but she went too far. She grew fat by exploiting them. Even the mothers of Babylon were ashamed of their behavior. The Lord prophesied that this great nation would become the least. She will dry up.
After the Lord has chastised His wayward people, He rescues them from Babylon. “While the enemies of Israel had been instruments of God, yet they had pursued their own selfish interests in self-aggrandizement, and now the Covenant God is ready to punish Babylon as He had punished Nineveh. Koldewey reports that the ruins of Babylon in many places were covered with forty to eighty feet of sand and rubble.” [2]
“Because of the wrath of the Lord she shall not be inhabited, but she shall be wholly desolate. Everyone who goes by Babylon shall be horrified and hiss at all her plagues.” Jeremiah 50:13
One planted seed doesn’t just yield one seed in return but a plant that produces many more seeds. Babylon was going to reap a great harvest of plagues. In Revelation 18:6, God speaks a similar word of the end times Babylon, saying, “Render to her just as she rendered to you, and repay her double according to her works; in the cup which she has mixed, mix double for her.”
“Put yourselves in array against Babylon all around, all you who bend the bow. Shoot at her. Spare no arrows, for she has sinned against the Lord. Shout against her all around. She has given her hand. Her foundations have fallen. Her walls are thrown down for it is the vengeance of the Lord. Take vengeance on her. As she has done, so do to her. Cut off the sower from Babylon, and he who handles the sickle at harvest time. For fear of the oppressing sword everyone shall turn to his own people, and everyone shall flee to his own land.” Jeremiah 50:14-16
In Ephesians 6:16, the Lord says to take up the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.” Without faith in God, there is no atonement for sin, and without forgiveness of sin, the devil feels free to fire arrows at people. The Babylonians had put their trust in the one who wanted to destroy them, that is, the devil.
Shouters were to shout at Babylon. God’s instructions to Babylon’s attackers was, “Take vengeance on her. As she has done, so do to her.” Only under the blood of Christ do we receive God’s grace which is much better treatment than we deserve. Revelation 18:2, 7 says, “Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen... In the measure that she glorified herself and lived luxuriously, in the same measure give her torment and sorrow.”
“Israel is like scattered sheep; the lions have driven him away. First the king of Assyria devoured him; now at last this Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has broken his bones. Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria. But I will bring back Israel to his home, and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan. His soul shall be satisfied on Mount Ephraim and Gilead. In those days and in that time, says the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought, but there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, but they shall not be found; for I will pardon those whom I preserve.” Jeremiah 50:17-20
Despite Israel’s short-comings, the Lord saw His people as a flock that had been scattered by a lion. It was time for God to punish those who mistreated them and bring the tribes back to their homeland. He prophesies of pardoning Israel’s and Judah’s sin. No sin would be found in them.
“Go up against the land of Merathaim, against it, and against the inhabitants of Pekod. Waste and utterly destroy them, says the Lord, and do according to all that I have commanded you.” Jeremiah 50:21
“Merathaim and Pekod were real locations in Babylon. Ironically, those place names sounded like the Hebrew words for ‘double rebellion’ and ‘punishment.’” [3]
“A sound of battle is in the land, and of great destruction. How the hammer of the whole earth has been cut apart and broken! How Babylon has become a desolation among the nations! I have laid a snare for you; you have indeed been trapped, O Babylon, and you were not aware. You have been found and also caught because you have contended against the Lord.” Jeremiah 50:22-24
“Babylon was used to doing the hammering, but the hammer itself would be pounded into submission. Babylon was also used to doing the trapping. But God said: “I set a trap for you, Babylon, and you were caught before you knew it. You were found and captured because you opposed the Lord.” [4]
“The Lord has opened His armory and has brought out the weapons of His indignation; for this is the work of the Lord God of hosts in the land of the Chaldeans. Come against her from the farthest border. Open her storehouses. Cast her up as heaps of ruins and destroy her utterly. Let nothing of her be left. Slay all her bulls. Let them go down to the slaughter. Woe to them! For their day has come, the time of their punishment. The voice of those who flee and escape from the land of Babylon declares in Zion the vengeance of the Lord our God, the vengeance of His temple. Call together the archers against Babylon. All you who bend the bow, encamp against it all around; let none of them escape. Repay her according to her work; according to all she has done, do to her; for she has been proud against the Lord, against the Holy One of Israel. Therefore her young men shall fall in the streets, and all her men of war shall be cut off in that day, says the Lord.” Jeremiah 50:25-30
Babylon ruled the world so the Lord speaks of opening up His armory and grabbing His weapons. Leveling evil global empires is God’s work. The Lord slays her bulls meaning her mighty men who used to bully the nations. Now, they are fleeing and describing what happened to them. God surrounds Babylon with archers. He orders them to shoot. She has been proud against the Lord, but she will be proud against Him no more.
“Behold, I am against you, O most haughty one! says the Lord God of hosts; for your day has come, the time that I will punish you. The most proud shall stumble and fall, and no one will raise him up; I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it will devour all around him.” Jeremiah 50:31-32
The Lord appoints an expiration date for Babylon’s use. In that day, even her most mighty men stumble and fall. Her capital city is burned to the ground.
“Thus says the Lord of hosts: the children of Israel were oppressed, along with the children of Judah; all who took them captive have held them fast; they have refused to let them go. Their Redeemer is strong; the Lord of hosts is His Name. He will thoroughly plead their case, that He may give rest to the land, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.” Jeremiah 50:33-34
The Lord speaks of Babylon as a trapper who captured His people and held them captive. No manner of negotiations with her would convince her to let them go. But she underestimated the Redeemer’s love for Israel. She saw no worth in them, but they were the apple of God’s eye. The Lord took on the role of being Israel’s defense lawyer. He pled their cause. The Lord reversed their roles. Israel would enjoy freedom. Babylon would be ruled by others.
“A sword is against the Chaldeans, says the Lord, against the inhabitants of Babylon, and against her princes and her wise men. A sword is against the soothsayers, and they will be fools. A sword is against her mighty men, and they will be dismayed. A sword is against their horses, against their chariots, and against all the mixed peoples who are in her midst; and they will become like women. A sword is against her treasures, and they will be robbed.” Jeremiah 50:35-37
Who shall the sword of the Lord pursue? Pursue Babylon’s ruling class (the Chaldeans)! Pursue her common people. Pursue her politicians (princes and counselors). Pursue her soothsayers (cult leaders). Pursue her mighty men. Pursue her mobile militaries units (horses and chariots). Pursue her hired soldiers from other countries (mixed people). Pursue her financial reserves. The Lord’s sword would hit Babylon from every angle until she became very small.
“A drought is against her waters, and they will be dried up. For it is the land of carved images, and they are insane with their idols. Therefore, the wild desert beasts shall dwell there with the jackals, and the ostriches shall dwell in it. It shall be inhabited no more forever, nor shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation. As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors, says the Lord, so no one shall reside there, nor son of man dwell in it.” Jeremiah 50:38-40
Babylon was dried up before the flames of God’s judgment ignited her. She needed the living waters of God’s Spirit. In John 7:38, Jesus said, “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” The Babylonians trusted in lifeless idols. Idols lack living water. John 7:39 says, “He spoke this [about living water] concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive.” Idols have no water of God’s Spirit to give.
Psalm 106:36-37 associates idol worship with demon worship. “They served their idols, which became a snare to them. They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons.” 1 Corinthians 10:20 is a second witness to this, “The things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons.”
Babylon’s worship of idols yielded curses. They lost their minds. Their land was taken over by wild animals. As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, He was about to overthrow them.
“Behold, a people shall come from the north, and a great nation and many kings shall be raised up from the ends of the earth. They shall hold the bow and the lance; they are cruel and shall not show mercy. Their voice shall roar like the sea; they shall ride on horses, set in array, like a man for the battle, against you, O daughter of Babylon. The king of Babylon has heard the report about them, and his hands grow feeble; anguish has taken hold of him, pangs as of a woman in childbirth.” Jeremiah 50:41-43
The Lord raised up a coalition of kings from the north of Babylon to execute His judgment on her. They had ample weapons. They were bloodthirsty. They were coming with a mighty roar of a wave to crush them. Even before they arrived, Babylon had become weak and fearful.
“Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the floodplain of the Jordan against the dwelling place of the strong; but I will make them suddenly run away from her. And who is a chosen man that I may appoint over her? For whom is like Me? Who will arraign Me? And who is that shepherd who will withstand Me?” Jeremiah 50:44
The king coalition of forces that comes against Babylon is as mighty as a lion, but the Lord will protect His people in the midst of Babylon. No one, not even a lion, can stand against the Lord.
“Therefore hear the counsel of the Lord that He has taken against Babylon, and His purposes that He has proposed against the land of the Chaldeans: surely the least of the flock shall draw them out; surely He will make their dwelling place desolate with them. At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth trembles, and the cry is heard among the nations.” Jeremiah 50:45-46
The Lord brings down cruel empires. In Genesis 6:5, God destroyed the people whose thoughts were evil continually in the day of Noah. In Genesis 10:8-11, 11:1-9, God reduced Nimrod’s tower of Babel to rubble. In Revelation 18:8-10, God ends the last ungodly empire, “Therefore her plagues will come in one day—death and mourning and famine. She will be utterly burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judges her. The kings of the earth who committed fornication and lived luxuriously with her will weep and lament for her, when they see the smoke of her burning, standing at a distance for fear of her torment, saying, ‘Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! For in one hour your judgment has come.’”
“The story of the fall of Babylon in 539 B.C. is a remarkable one. The attack, which came from the northern side of the city, was made by a coalition of armies led by Cyrus the Persian.”
According to one account: “Cyrus made his successful assault on a night when the whole city, relying on the strength of the walls, had given themselves up to the riot and debauchery of a grand public festival, and the king and his nobles were reveling at a splendid entertainment.” Cyrus redirected the waters of a canal that flowed under Babylon’s wall to another direction. That canal became a road for his troops to enter the city and conquer it.
The contrast between Babylon’s ancient magnificence and its future desolation is great. This was quite a reversal. At the beginning of Jeremiah’s book, God brought charges against His people in Judea. By the end of the book, He has become their legal defender or advocate. He has gone from prosecuting attorney to defense attorney.” [5]
Who made the difference between Babylon and Israel? The Lord did! The Lord forgave Israel’s sins and gave Israel a new heart for Him. They professed that they wanted to be in a covenant relationship with Him once again. So, He brought them back to the Promised Land. All praise, glory and honor be to the Lord!
[1] Jeremiah 32:12; 36:4-26; 43:3; 45:1; 51:59
[2] Dr. Theo Laetsch, Bible Commentary Jeremiah, Concordia Paperback Edition, 1965, ©, pages 354-355
[3] Dr. Phillip Graham Ryken, Jeremiah and Lamentations from Sorrow to Hope, Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL, © 2001, p. 688
[4] Dr. Phillip Graham Ryken, Jeremiah and Lamentations from Sorrow to Hope, Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL, © 2001, p. 688
[5] Dr. Phillip Graham Ryken, Jeremiah and Lamentations from Sorrow to Hope, Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL, © 2001, p. 696-697
The Lord Jesus has graced me with revelations from the Book of Jeremiah that are helpful to better understanding the relevance of the Law, the Prophets, the Gospel, the Apostles, and the Book of Revelation. I am in the midst of preparing 54 video-recorded presentations, one for each chapter of Jeremiah, plus an intro and conclusion presentation. When the presentations are done, I plan to publish them on YouTube. I also welcome invitations to share these revelations in-person. In the meantime, I publish articles online, intercede for the peoples of the nations, and say to the Lord, “Here am I Lord, send me.”
Saturday, October 11, 2025
New Life For The Nations
In Revelation 10:11, an angel says to John the Apostle, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings.” In Jeremiah 1:5, the Lord said to Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you. Before you were born I sanctified you. I ordained you a prophet to the nations.” God had a plan for them before they were born. They did not earn or deserve it. Their callings were His generous gift to them, and to those whom they served.
In 1 Corinthians 15:10, Paul wrote of his calling from the Lord saying, “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” God does His best work through me when I am leaning on His grace because I find myself wholly inadequate for His service.
Isaiah said to the Lord, “Here am I, send me!” Be openminded as you serve the Lord. The Lord sent me primarily to Chinese speaking people for 12 years, but afterwards, entrusted into my care congregations with people from Latin American countries, Asian countries, Middle Eastern countries, African countries, and of course, Caucasian Americans. At first, I felt hurt to be taken from the Chinese people, but since then, the Lord has helped me to enjoy His great love and interest in all people.
Jeremiah 49 contains prophecies to Ammon, Edom, Damascus, Kedar-Hazor and Elam.
Prophecy is good news to some, but not to others. Dr. Philip Ryken wrote, “The victory of Christ is good news. But this is only good news for God’s friends, not for His enemies. For them it is the worst possible news. If Christ will defeat all His enemies, then it is desperately important to become one of His friends. Are you a friend of God?” [1]
“Against the Ammonites. ‘Thus says the Lord: Has Israel no sons? Has he no heir? Why then does Milcom inherit Gad, and his people dwell in its cities? Therefore behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that I will cause to be heard an alarm of war in Rabbah of the Ammonites; it shall be a desolate mound, and her villages shall be burned with fire. Then Israel shall take possession of his inheritance, says the Lord.’” Jeremiah 49:1-2
Ammon, like Moab, descended from Lot. Ammon’s land was north of Moab’s. The Arnon River was the border between their lands. The Ammonites seized the tribe of Gad’s land when Israel was conquered by Assyria. Judah was by right of kinship the heir, not Ammon, but Ammon joined with Nebuchadnezzar against Judah and Jerusalem. They rejoiced over Judah’s fall. [2]
Israel has no heir for the land of Gad because Israel had been removed by Assyria. Thus, Ammon took over the land of Gad including the cities of Heshbon and Ai. Milcom is the false god of the Ammonites. God promises in this prophecy to bring war against Ammon and to burn their capital city Rabbah down. Afterwards, God would restore the land to Israel.
The Ammonites placed their children into the hands of metal idol whom they called Molech. Underneath its hands a fire burned. They burnt their children alive. God warned them that their villages would be burned with fire. As they did to children so it happened to them.
One modern day abortion procedure involves injecting a saline solution into the placenta. The baby thrashes around until dead. The same Lord who held the Ammonites accountable for infanticide will hold abortionists accountable if they do not repent and seek His forgiveness.
“Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai is plundered! Cry, you daughters of Rabbah, gird yourselves with sackcloth! Lament and run to and fro by the walls; for Milcom shall go into captivity with his priests and his princes together.” Jeremiah 49:3
The Lord gave Jeremiah a vision of Ammon’s future. Heshbon, Ai and Rabbah would be taken from him. They should go ahead and put their sackcloth on now and wail, cry and lament. This prophecy will come to pass. The Lord prewarned the priests and princes of Milcom of captivity. Captivity is a type of expulsion from paradise. When people rebel against the Lord, He removes them from His land.
Heshbon and Ai had once belonged to the northern tribes of Israel. Ai was near to Bethel where Jeroboam set up two golden calf idols. Ammon took over Heshbon and Ai after the northern tribes were gone. Later, Moab captured Heshbon and made it part of their kingdom. Then, after that, Babylon conquered Ammon. Ai was destroyed. The Lord tells Heshbon to wail for Ai.
“Why do you boast in the valleys, your flowing valley, O backsliding daughter? Who trusted in her treasures, saying, ‘Who will come against me?’ Behold, I will bring fear upon you, says the Lord God of hosts, from all those who are around you; you shall be driven out, everyone headlong, and no one will gather those who wander off. But afterward I will bring back the captives of the people of Ammon, says the Lord.” Jeremiah 49:4-6
Ammon enjoyed plush valleys and riches. Sadly, they trusted in these assets rather than in God. Rather than giving thanks to God, he assumed he deserved them. He fearlessly boasted, “Who shall come against me?” But the Lord promised to bring his neighbors against him and drive him out. After a time out, God would restore the land to him.
The New Testament has similar a warning. 1 Timothy 6:17 says, “Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy.” Revelation 18:7 is a lament for a proud nation: “How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.”
Next, the Lord speaks a prophetic word to the people of Edom.
“Against Edom. Thus says the Lord of hosts: is wisdom no more in Teman? Has counsel perished from the prudent? Has their wisdom vanished?” Jeremiah 49:7
Psalm 14:1 says, “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, They have done abominable works, There is none who does good.” The people of Teman, a city in Edom were foolish to behave as though there was no God. Proverbs 9:10 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” They needed to start over again. Proverbs 22:15 says, “Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; the rod of correction will drive it far from him.” God was applying the rod of correction to them to drive out the foolishness that had accumulated among their leaders.
“Flee, turn back, dwell in the depths, O inhabitants of Dedan! For I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him, the time that I will punish him. If grape-gatherers came to you, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? If thieves by night, would they not destroy until they have enough? But I have made Esau bare; I have uncovered his secret places, and he shall not be able to hide himself. His descendants are plundered, his brethren and his neighbors, and he is no more.” Jeremiah 49:8-10
Esau was the grandson of Abraham and son of Isaac. Esau is the forefather of the nation of Edom. Dedan was one of his major cities. The coming calamities to Esau are not due to the greed of robbers. They are due to Esau’s “hidden” sins. Esau experienced a thorough stripping of his possessions. Hebrews 12:16 speaks of him as a fornicator.
Edom became politically extinct after the time of the Romans. He was unable to hide himself and unable to protect his treasures. The conqueror found him.
“Leave your fatherless children, I will preserve them alive; and let your widows trust in Me. For thus says the Lord: behold, those whose judgment was not to drink of the cup have assuredly drunk. And are you the one who will altogether go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished, but you shall surely drink of it. For I have sworn by Myself, says the Lord, that Bozrah shall become a desolation, a reproach, a waste, and a curse. And all its cities shall be perpetual wastes.” Jeremiah 49:11-13
Edom’s fatherless and widows must rest their hope in God alone. God promises to preserve them. Psalm 68:5 says, “A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in His holy habitation.” The fatherless and widows reaped the results of the fathers and husbands bad choices. If those who are innocent must perish due to the bad choices of their protectors, how much more should those who made the bad choices perish? God promises that Bozrah, Edom’s capital, shall be corrected. As goes the family so goes the nation. The fathers and husbands of Edom should have turned to the Lord to save and transform them.
“I have heard a message from the Lord, and an ambassador has been sent to the nations: gather together, come against her, and rise up to battle! For indeed, I will make you small among nations, despised among men.” Jeremiah 49:14-15
“The Lord is represented as sending His ambassador to the nations, calling them to attack Edom. He guides the counsels of the nations. Without their own knowledge, and often against their own inclination, they carry out His plans. The Lord’s purpose is to humble proud and cruel Edom. Therefore, He gives success to the enemy.” [3]
The hard-headed and unyielding men of Edom were about to be brought low and made to feel the shame that they brought upon their dependents. God’s correction on their nation, would help them to see the error of their folly.
In Luke 1:51-52, Mary magnified the Lord for bringing the Messiah into the world. She sang, “He has shown strength with His arm. He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He has put down the mighty from their thrones and exalted the lowly.” God does eventually dethrone bullies and affirm those who have humbly honored Him.
“Your fierceness has deceived you, the pride of your heart, O you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, who hold the height of the hill! Though you make your nest as high as the eagle, I will bring you down from there, says the Lord.” Jeremiah 49:16
Some with high achievements and positions feel justified to look down on others. The cleft of the rock, the high hill and the eagle’s nest in this passage represent a place that is untouchable. But no one is beyond the Lord’s reach. The Lord brings down bullies in due season.
“Edom also shall be an astonishment; everyone who goes by it will be astonished and will hiss at all its plagues. As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors, says the Lord, No one shall remain there, nor shall a son of man dwell in it. Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the floodplain of the Jordan against the dwelling place of the strong; but I will suddenly make him run away from her. And who is a chosen man that I may appoint over her? For whom is like Me? Who will arraign Me? And who is that shepherd who will withstand Me? Therefore hear the counsel of the Lord that he has taken against Edom, and His purposes that He has proposed against the inhabitants of Teman: surely the least of the flock shall draw them out; surely he shall make their dwelling places desolate with them. The earth shakes at the noise of their fall; at the cry, its noise is heard at the Red Sea. Behold, he shall come up and fly like the eagle and spread His wings over Bozrah; the heart of the mighty men of Edom in that day shall be like the heart of a woman in birth pangs.” Jeremiah 49:17-22
Plagues, overthrow, a scary lion, desolation, an earthquake and an attacking eagle all coming soon. The Lord says that the hearts of the mighty men be like the hearts of women giving birth. Beating fast and anxious for the pain to end! Jesus used similar words when He spoke of the signs of the end times. In Luke 21:26, He spoke of “men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.” God’s wrath on sin is great. In Revelation 3:19, Jesus told the church in Laodicea, “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.”
Next, the Lord speaks a prophetic word to the people of Damascus the capital city of Syria.
“Against Damascus. Hamath and Arpad are shamed, for they have heard bad news. They are fainthearted; there is trouble on the sea; it cannot be quiet. Damascus has grown feeble; she turns to flee, and fear has seized her. Anguish and sorrows have taken her like a woman in labor. Why is the city of praise not deserted, the city of My joy? Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be cut off in that day, says the Lord of hosts. I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall consume the palaces of Ben-Hadad.” Jeremiah 49:23-26
Damascus, Hamath and Arpad were key cities of Syria. Bad news for them was bad news for the nation. Fear, anguish and sorrow were coming her way. The city of joy needed to vacate their streets because war was coming. Her defenses will be useless. Her capital will burn down.
As He does so often in Scripture, the Lord gives Jeremiah the metaphor of a woman in the process of giving birth to help the Syrians grasp the kind of pain that was coming their way.
Jesus prophesied to His disciples about experiencing birth pains. In John 16:19-22, He spoke of His death when He referred to going away from them. He told them that they would weep and lament while the world rejoiced. He compared their time of mourning to the sorrow a woman experiences when the birthing process begins. She experiences great anguish until the baby is born, but after the new life comes forth she is so filled with joy. When Jesus resurrected from the dead, the sorrow of the disciples turned to joy.
The birthing metaphor confirms that Jesus judges the world with righteousness. He allows pain to bring about new birth. He reforms broken and marred vessels into beautiful vessels. So, when God speaks of birth pangs, He also speaks of a new life that is coming.
Next, the Lord speaks a prophetic word to the people of Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor. The Kedarites were descendants of Ishmael, the son of Abraham and Hagar. The kingdoms of Hazor refers to a region or a network of settlements in the Arabian desert, not the Canaanite city of Hazor. These nomadic groups were known for their wealth and skill in archery. They dwelt in tents in the Arabian Desert along with their flocks and herds.
“Against Kedar and against the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon shall strike. Thus says the Lord: Arise, go up to Kedar, and devastate the men of the East! Their tents and their flocks they shall take away. They shall take for themselves their curtains, all their vessels and their camels; and they shall cry out to them, ‘Fear is on every side!’ Flee, get far away! Dwell in the depths, O inhabitants of Hazor! says the Lord. For Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has taken counsel against you and has conceived a plan against you. Arise, go up to the wealthy nation that dwells securely, says the Lord, which has neither gates nor bars, dwelling alone. Their camels shall be for booty, and the multitude of their cattle for plunder. I will scatter to all winds those in the farthest corners, and I will bring their calamity from all its sides, says the Lord. Hazor shall be a dwelling for jackals, a desolation forever; no one shall reside there, nor son of man dwell in it.” Jeremiah 49:28-33
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon planned to go after the wealth of these nomadic tent dwellers. The Lord urged Nebuchadnezzar to do so. He could have their tents, their flocks, their curtains, their pottery and their camels. They were a wealthy nation without gates and bars. They were easy prey! When Nebuchadnezzar finished his conquest, only jackals remained in the land.
Some of the Lord’s judgments are tempered with mercy but there is no mercy expressed for the people of Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor. As I thought about this, the story of the baker and cupbearer in Genesis 40:1-23 came to my mind. Both of these men had dreams. One man’s dream meant that he would be restored to his former position with Pharoah. The other man’s dream meant that he would be executed. God knew each man’s crime. One was vindicated and the other was condemned.
Next, the Lord speaks a prophetic word to the people of Elam.
“The Word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet against Elam, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying, thus says the Lord of hosts: Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the foremost of their might. Against Elam I will bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven and scatter them toward all those winds; there shall be no nations where the outcasts of Elam will not go. For I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies and before those who seek their life. I will bring disaster upon them, My fierce anger, says the Lord; and I will send the sword after them until I have consumed them. I will set My throne in Elam and will destroy from there the king and the princes, says the Lord. But it shall come to pass in the latter days: I will bring back the captives of Elam, says the Lord.” Jeremiah 49:34-39
Elam weapons and strength will be powerless before the Lord. Their once cohesive nation will be scattered. The four winds will blow them like chaff to ends of the earth. They too will be overcome in battle. God was going to replace their king and princes with His throne, but it seems His throne would be there to ensure that they had to a place to return after their term of exile ended.
“Jeremiah 49 shows what happens to people who trust in anyone or anything besides the one true God. Wealth did not save the Ammonites. They were not able to buy their way out of judgment. Wisdom did not save the Edomites, nor did their military might.” “Fame did not save the Ammonites because God is no respecter of persons. Independence did not save the Kedarites. God found them in the wilderness and destroyed them just the same. Weapons did not save the Elamites.” “God’s judgment of these nations proved the truth of something Jeremiah said much earlier: ‘Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches.’ God judged these nations to show that intelligence, power and money cannot save.” [4]
God gave to Elam promise of restoration. “After 539 B.C., Elam became the center of the Persian Empire. Its capital Susa was rebuilt by Darius in 494 B.C.” “When the Holy Spirit came on the church with great power [in Acts 2], the Elamites heard the wonders of God in their own language. Surely at least a few of those Persians were among the 3,000 who came to faith in Jesus Christ that day and were baptized by the apostles.”
“As Derek Kidner reflected on this mystery, he was reminded of the two thieves who were crucified on Calvary, one on either side of Christ.” “Why did Jesus save one thief and not the other? Kidner quotes an old saying: ‘One was saved, that none might despair; yet only one, that none might presume.” [5]
In Isaiah 45:22, God says, “Turn to Me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God and there is no other.” The best option for every soul is turn to Christ for salvation. Acts 4:12 says, “there is salvation in no other name given among men.” The judgment on unconfessed and unforgiven sin in the Gospel is much more severe than Jeremiah’s. Jesus said in Matthew 18:8, “If your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life lame or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet, to be cast into the everlasting fire.” He used this figure of speech to emphasize how vital it is very everyone of us to be in a right relationship with God.
Nations experience new life as they happily believe in and profess Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and receive the power of His indwelling Holy Spirit.
[1] Dr. Phillip Graham Ryken, Jeremiah and Lamentations from Sorrow to Hope, Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL, © 2001, p. 680
[2] Jamieson Fausset Brown Commentary. See 2 Kings 24:2; Psalms 83:4-7-8; Zephaniah 2:8-9
[3] Dr. Theo Laetsch, Bible Commentary Jeremiah, Concordia Paperback Edition, 1965, ©, page 345
[4] Dr. Phillip Graham Ryken, Jeremiah and Lamentations from Sorrow to Hope, Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL, © 2001, p. 682. See also Jeremiah 9:23a
[5] Dr. Phillip Graham Ryken, Jeremiah and Lamentations from Sorrow to Hope, Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL, © 2001, p. 684-685. See also Matthew 27:44.
In 1 Corinthians 15:10, Paul wrote of his calling from the Lord saying, “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” God does His best work through me when I am leaning on His grace because I find myself wholly inadequate for His service.
Isaiah said to the Lord, “Here am I, send me!” Be openminded as you serve the Lord. The Lord sent me primarily to Chinese speaking people for 12 years, but afterwards, entrusted into my care congregations with people from Latin American countries, Asian countries, Middle Eastern countries, African countries, and of course, Caucasian Americans. At first, I felt hurt to be taken from the Chinese people, but since then, the Lord has helped me to enjoy His great love and interest in all people.
Jeremiah 49 contains prophecies to Ammon, Edom, Damascus, Kedar-Hazor and Elam.
Prophecy is good news to some, but not to others. Dr. Philip Ryken wrote, “The victory of Christ is good news. But this is only good news for God’s friends, not for His enemies. For them it is the worst possible news. If Christ will defeat all His enemies, then it is desperately important to become one of His friends. Are you a friend of God?” [1]
“Against the Ammonites. ‘Thus says the Lord: Has Israel no sons? Has he no heir? Why then does Milcom inherit Gad, and his people dwell in its cities? Therefore behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that I will cause to be heard an alarm of war in Rabbah of the Ammonites; it shall be a desolate mound, and her villages shall be burned with fire. Then Israel shall take possession of his inheritance, says the Lord.’” Jeremiah 49:1-2
Ammon, like Moab, descended from Lot. Ammon’s land was north of Moab’s. The Arnon River was the border between their lands. The Ammonites seized the tribe of Gad’s land when Israel was conquered by Assyria. Judah was by right of kinship the heir, not Ammon, but Ammon joined with Nebuchadnezzar against Judah and Jerusalem. They rejoiced over Judah’s fall. [2]
Israel has no heir for the land of Gad because Israel had been removed by Assyria. Thus, Ammon took over the land of Gad including the cities of Heshbon and Ai. Milcom is the false god of the Ammonites. God promises in this prophecy to bring war against Ammon and to burn their capital city Rabbah down. Afterwards, God would restore the land to Israel.
The Ammonites placed their children into the hands of metal idol whom they called Molech. Underneath its hands a fire burned. They burnt their children alive. God warned them that their villages would be burned with fire. As they did to children so it happened to them.
One modern day abortion procedure involves injecting a saline solution into the placenta. The baby thrashes around until dead. The same Lord who held the Ammonites accountable for infanticide will hold abortionists accountable if they do not repent and seek His forgiveness.
“Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai is plundered! Cry, you daughters of Rabbah, gird yourselves with sackcloth! Lament and run to and fro by the walls; for Milcom shall go into captivity with his priests and his princes together.” Jeremiah 49:3
The Lord gave Jeremiah a vision of Ammon’s future. Heshbon, Ai and Rabbah would be taken from him. They should go ahead and put their sackcloth on now and wail, cry and lament. This prophecy will come to pass. The Lord prewarned the priests and princes of Milcom of captivity. Captivity is a type of expulsion from paradise. When people rebel against the Lord, He removes them from His land.
Heshbon and Ai had once belonged to the northern tribes of Israel. Ai was near to Bethel where Jeroboam set up two golden calf idols. Ammon took over Heshbon and Ai after the northern tribes were gone. Later, Moab captured Heshbon and made it part of their kingdom. Then, after that, Babylon conquered Ammon. Ai was destroyed. The Lord tells Heshbon to wail for Ai.
“Why do you boast in the valleys, your flowing valley, O backsliding daughter? Who trusted in her treasures, saying, ‘Who will come against me?’ Behold, I will bring fear upon you, says the Lord God of hosts, from all those who are around you; you shall be driven out, everyone headlong, and no one will gather those who wander off. But afterward I will bring back the captives of the people of Ammon, says the Lord.” Jeremiah 49:4-6
Ammon enjoyed plush valleys and riches. Sadly, they trusted in these assets rather than in God. Rather than giving thanks to God, he assumed he deserved them. He fearlessly boasted, “Who shall come against me?” But the Lord promised to bring his neighbors against him and drive him out. After a time out, God would restore the land to him.
The New Testament has similar a warning. 1 Timothy 6:17 says, “Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy.” Revelation 18:7 is a lament for a proud nation: “How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.”
Next, the Lord speaks a prophetic word to the people of Edom.
“Against Edom. Thus says the Lord of hosts: is wisdom no more in Teman? Has counsel perished from the prudent? Has their wisdom vanished?” Jeremiah 49:7
Psalm 14:1 says, “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, They have done abominable works, There is none who does good.” The people of Teman, a city in Edom were foolish to behave as though there was no God. Proverbs 9:10 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” They needed to start over again. Proverbs 22:15 says, “Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; the rod of correction will drive it far from him.” God was applying the rod of correction to them to drive out the foolishness that had accumulated among their leaders.
“Flee, turn back, dwell in the depths, O inhabitants of Dedan! For I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him, the time that I will punish him. If grape-gatherers came to you, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? If thieves by night, would they not destroy until they have enough? But I have made Esau bare; I have uncovered his secret places, and he shall not be able to hide himself. His descendants are plundered, his brethren and his neighbors, and he is no more.” Jeremiah 49:8-10
Esau was the grandson of Abraham and son of Isaac. Esau is the forefather of the nation of Edom. Dedan was one of his major cities. The coming calamities to Esau are not due to the greed of robbers. They are due to Esau’s “hidden” sins. Esau experienced a thorough stripping of his possessions. Hebrews 12:16 speaks of him as a fornicator.
Edom became politically extinct after the time of the Romans. He was unable to hide himself and unable to protect his treasures. The conqueror found him.
“Leave your fatherless children, I will preserve them alive; and let your widows trust in Me. For thus says the Lord: behold, those whose judgment was not to drink of the cup have assuredly drunk. And are you the one who will altogether go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished, but you shall surely drink of it. For I have sworn by Myself, says the Lord, that Bozrah shall become a desolation, a reproach, a waste, and a curse. And all its cities shall be perpetual wastes.” Jeremiah 49:11-13
Edom’s fatherless and widows must rest their hope in God alone. God promises to preserve them. Psalm 68:5 says, “A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in His holy habitation.” The fatherless and widows reaped the results of the fathers and husbands bad choices. If those who are innocent must perish due to the bad choices of their protectors, how much more should those who made the bad choices perish? God promises that Bozrah, Edom’s capital, shall be corrected. As goes the family so goes the nation. The fathers and husbands of Edom should have turned to the Lord to save and transform them.
“I have heard a message from the Lord, and an ambassador has been sent to the nations: gather together, come against her, and rise up to battle! For indeed, I will make you small among nations, despised among men.” Jeremiah 49:14-15
“The Lord is represented as sending His ambassador to the nations, calling them to attack Edom. He guides the counsels of the nations. Without their own knowledge, and often against their own inclination, they carry out His plans. The Lord’s purpose is to humble proud and cruel Edom. Therefore, He gives success to the enemy.” [3]
The hard-headed and unyielding men of Edom were about to be brought low and made to feel the shame that they brought upon their dependents. God’s correction on their nation, would help them to see the error of their folly.
In Luke 1:51-52, Mary magnified the Lord for bringing the Messiah into the world. She sang, “He has shown strength with His arm. He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He has put down the mighty from their thrones and exalted the lowly.” God does eventually dethrone bullies and affirm those who have humbly honored Him.
“Your fierceness has deceived you, the pride of your heart, O you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, who hold the height of the hill! Though you make your nest as high as the eagle, I will bring you down from there, says the Lord.” Jeremiah 49:16
Some with high achievements and positions feel justified to look down on others. The cleft of the rock, the high hill and the eagle’s nest in this passage represent a place that is untouchable. But no one is beyond the Lord’s reach. The Lord brings down bullies in due season.
“Edom also shall be an astonishment; everyone who goes by it will be astonished and will hiss at all its plagues. As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors, says the Lord, No one shall remain there, nor shall a son of man dwell in it. Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the floodplain of the Jordan against the dwelling place of the strong; but I will suddenly make him run away from her. And who is a chosen man that I may appoint over her? For whom is like Me? Who will arraign Me? And who is that shepherd who will withstand Me? Therefore hear the counsel of the Lord that he has taken against Edom, and His purposes that He has proposed against the inhabitants of Teman: surely the least of the flock shall draw them out; surely he shall make their dwelling places desolate with them. The earth shakes at the noise of their fall; at the cry, its noise is heard at the Red Sea. Behold, he shall come up and fly like the eagle and spread His wings over Bozrah; the heart of the mighty men of Edom in that day shall be like the heart of a woman in birth pangs.” Jeremiah 49:17-22
Plagues, overthrow, a scary lion, desolation, an earthquake and an attacking eagle all coming soon. The Lord says that the hearts of the mighty men be like the hearts of women giving birth. Beating fast and anxious for the pain to end! Jesus used similar words when He spoke of the signs of the end times. In Luke 21:26, He spoke of “men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.” God’s wrath on sin is great. In Revelation 3:19, Jesus told the church in Laodicea, “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.”
Next, the Lord speaks a prophetic word to the people of Damascus the capital city of Syria.
“Against Damascus. Hamath and Arpad are shamed, for they have heard bad news. They are fainthearted; there is trouble on the sea; it cannot be quiet. Damascus has grown feeble; she turns to flee, and fear has seized her. Anguish and sorrows have taken her like a woman in labor. Why is the city of praise not deserted, the city of My joy? Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be cut off in that day, says the Lord of hosts. I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall consume the palaces of Ben-Hadad.” Jeremiah 49:23-26
Damascus, Hamath and Arpad were key cities of Syria. Bad news for them was bad news for the nation. Fear, anguish and sorrow were coming her way. The city of joy needed to vacate their streets because war was coming. Her defenses will be useless. Her capital will burn down.
As He does so often in Scripture, the Lord gives Jeremiah the metaphor of a woman in the process of giving birth to help the Syrians grasp the kind of pain that was coming their way.
Jesus prophesied to His disciples about experiencing birth pains. In John 16:19-22, He spoke of His death when He referred to going away from them. He told them that they would weep and lament while the world rejoiced. He compared their time of mourning to the sorrow a woman experiences when the birthing process begins. She experiences great anguish until the baby is born, but after the new life comes forth she is so filled with joy. When Jesus resurrected from the dead, the sorrow of the disciples turned to joy.
The birthing metaphor confirms that Jesus judges the world with righteousness. He allows pain to bring about new birth. He reforms broken and marred vessels into beautiful vessels. So, when God speaks of birth pangs, He also speaks of a new life that is coming.
Next, the Lord speaks a prophetic word to the people of Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor. The Kedarites were descendants of Ishmael, the son of Abraham and Hagar. The kingdoms of Hazor refers to a region or a network of settlements in the Arabian desert, not the Canaanite city of Hazor. These nomadic groups were known for their wealth and skill in archery. They dwelt in tents in the Arabian Desert along with their flocks and herds.
“Against Kedar and against the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon shall strike. Thus says the Lord: Arise, go up to Kedar, and devastate the men of the East! Their tents and their flocks they shall take away. They shall take for themselves their curtains, all their vessels and their camels; and they shall cry out to them, ‘Fear is on every side!’ Flee, get far away! Dwell in the depths, O inhabitants of Hazor! says the Lord. For Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has taken counsel against you and has conceived a plan against you. Arise, go up to the wealthy nation that dwells securely, says the Lord, which has neither gates nor bars, dwelling alone. Their camels shall be for booty, and the multitude of their cattle for plunder. I will scatter to all winds those in the farthest corners, and I will bring their calamity from all its sides, says the Lord. Hazor shall be a dwelling for jackals, a desolation forever; no one shall reside there, nor son of man dwell in it.” Jeremiah 49:28-33
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon planned to go after the wealth of these nomadic tent dwellers. The Lord urged Nebuchadnezzar to do so. He could have their tents, their flocks, their curtains, their pottery and their camels. They were a wealthy nation without gates and bars. They were easy prey! When Nebuchadnezzar finished his conquest, only jackals remained in the land.
Some of the Lord’s judgments are tempered with mercy but there is no mercy expressed for the people of Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor. As I thought about this, the story of the baker and cupbearer in Genesis 40:1-23 came to my mind. Both of these men had dreams. One man’s dream meant that he would be restored to his former position with Pharoah. The other man’s dream meant that he would be executed. God knew each man’s crime. One was vindicated and the other was condemned.
Next, the Lord speaks a prophetic word to the people of Elam.
“The Word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet against Elam, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying, thus says the Lord of hosts: Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the foremost of their might. Against Elam I will bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven and scatter them toward all those winds; there shall be no nations where the outcasts of Elam will not go. For I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies and before those who seek their life. I will bring disaster upon them, My fierce anger, says the Lord; and I will send the sword after them until I have consumed them. I will set My throne in Elam and will destroy from there the king and the princes, says the Lord. But it shall come to pass in the latter days: I will bring back the captives of Elam, says the Lord.” Jeremiah 49:34-39
Elam weapons and strength will be powerless before the Lord. Their once cohesive nation will be scattered. The four winds will blow them like chaff to ends of the earth. They too will be overcome in battle. God was going to replace their king and princes with His throne, but it seems His throne would be there to ensure that they had to a place to return after their term of exile ended.
“Jeremiah 49 shows what happens to people who trust in anyone or anything besides the one true God. Wealth did not save the Ammonites. They were not able to buy their way out of judgment. Wisdom did not save the Edomites, nor did their military might.” “Fame did not save the Ammonites because God is no respecter of persons. Independence did not save the Kedarites. God found them in the wilderness and destroyed them just the same. Weapons did not save the Elamites.” “God’s judgment of these nations proved the truth of something Jeremiah said much earlier: ‘Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches.’ God judged these nations to show that intelligence, power and money cannot save.” [4]
God gave to Elam promise of restoration. “After 539 B.C., Elam became the center of the Persian Empire. Its capital Susa was rebuilt by Darius in 494 B.C.” “When the Holy Spirit came on the church with great power [in Acts 2], the Elamites heard the wonders of God in their own language. Surely at least a few of those Persians were among the 3,000 who came to faith in Jesus Christ that day and were baptized by the apostles.”
“As Derek Kidner reflected on this mystery, he was reminded of the two thieves who were crucified on Calvary, one on either side of Christ.” “Why did Jesus save one thief and not the other? Kidner quotes an old saying: ‘One was saved, that none might despair; yet only one, that none might presume.” [5]
In Isaiah 45:22, God says, “Turn to Me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God and there is no other.” The best option for every soul is turn to Christ for salvation. Acts 4:12 says, “there is salvation in no other name given among men.” The judgment on unconfessed and unforgiven sin in the Gospel is much more severe than Jeremiah’s. Jesus said in Matthew 18:8, “If your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life lame or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet, to be cast into the everlasting fire.” He used this figure of speech to emphasize how vital it is very everyone of us to be in a right relationship with God.
Nations experience new life as they happily believe in and profess Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and receive the power of His indwelling Holy Spirit.
[1] Dr. Phillip Graham Ryken, Jeremiah and Lamentations from Sorrow to Hope, Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL, © 2001, p. 680
[2] Jamieson Fausset Brown Commentary. See 2 Kings 24:2; Psalms 83:4-7-8; Zephaniah 2:8-9
[3] Dr. Theo Laetsch, Bible Commentary Jeremiah, Concordia Paperback Edition, 1965, ©, page 345
[4] Dr. Phillip Graham Ryken, Jeremiah and Lamentations from Sorrow to Hope, Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL, © 2001, p. 682. See also Jeremiah 9:23a
[5] Dr. Phillip Graham Ryken, Jeremiah and Lamentations from Sorrow to Hope, Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL, © 2001, p. 684-685. See also Matthew 27:44.
The Lord Jesus has graced me with revelations from the Book of Jeremiah that are helpful to better understanding the relevance of the Law, the Prophets, the Gospel, the Apostles, and the Book of Revelation. I am in the midst of preparing 54 video-recorded presentations, one for each chapter of Jeremiah, plus an intro and conclusion presentation. When the presentations are done, I plan to publish them on YouTube. I also welcome invitations to share these revelations in-person. In the meantime, I publish articles online, intercede for the peoples of the nations, and say to the Lord, “Here am I Lord, send me.”
Friday, October 10, 2025
Reformation
The Spirit of the Lord gave Jeremiah a word for the Moabites. I counted the names of 21 cities of Moab in this prophecy. The Lord details what is to come upon them. The Lord knows the end from the beginning. He tells them “why” these events will happen. Did they have ears to hear what His Spirit was saying to them and to act on His Word?
“Concerning Moab: this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Woe to Nebo, for it will be plundered. Kiriathaim will be disgraced and captured; the stronghold will be disgraced and shattered. Moab will be praised no more. In Heshbon people will plot her downfall: ‘Come, let us put an end to that nation.’ You also shall be cut down, O Madmen! The sword shall pursue you. Cries of anguish arise from Horonaim, ‘Plundering and great destruction!’ Moab is destroyed. Her little ones have caused a cry to be heard. For in the Ascent of Luhith they ascend with continual weeping; for in the descent of Horonaim the enemies have heard a cry of destruction. ‘Flee, save your lives! And be like the juniper in the wilderness.’” Jeremiah 48:1-6
Nebo is located near to the northeast corner of the Dead Sea. Kiriathaim, Heshbon, Horonaim and the ascent of Luhith are all locations in Moab. The Lord provides details of what is about to happen to them. For example, Nebo will be plundered. Moab’s stronghold at Kiriathaim will be captured and destroyed. The people will cry tears as they flee up the hills in Luhith because of the destruction below.
“Because you have trusted in your works and your treasures, you also shall be taken. Chemosh shall go forth into captivity, his priests, and his princes together. The plunderer shall come against every city,. No one shall escape. The valley also shall perish, and the plain shall be destroyed, as the Lord has spoken. Give wings to Moab, that she may flee and get away; for her cities shall be desolate, without any to dwell in them.” Jeremiah 48:7-9
The Moabites misplaced their trust. They trusted in their works, their treasures and in their false god Chemosh. His priests and princes led them to adore things that could not save them. Jesus said in John 10:10, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” Apart the Lord there is no victory over the devil. The Moabites needed to listen to God’s voice via Jeremiah. In fact, the Lord suggested that they should be given wings to escape what was coming.
“Cursed is he who does the work of the Lord deceitfully, and cursed is he who keeps back his sword from blood.” Jeremiah 48:10
This was a word to those appointed to execute vengeance on Moab’s sin. King Nebuchadnezzar ordered his soldiers to decimate them. Whoever let them escape would be held accountable.
God gave a similar order to King Saul of Israel. The Lord told him to not spare one Amalekite, but Saul spared their king. The Lord rebuked Saul via His prophet Samuel. Then, God took from Saul His Spirit, his crown and his life. An Amalekite dealt the final death blow to Saul. [1]
Moab needed the God of David. David was the great grandson of a Moabite woman named Ruth. Ruth was a Moabite woman who placed her trust in the God of Israel. In fact, her name appears in Matthew 1:5 in the genealogy of Jesus.
Moab’s past accolades and current finances would be insufficient to defeat the Babylonians. Moab was famous for its fortresses, but those fortresses would be no match for the battering rams and siege towers of the Babylonians. Moab’s fake god “Chemosh” would not help him.
“Moab has been at ease from his youth. He has settled on his lees, and has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, nor has he gone into captivity. Therefore, his taste remained in him, and his scent has not changed. Therefore behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that I shall send him wine-workers who will tip him over and empty his vessels and break the bottles.” Jeremiah 48:11-12
Lees are sediments that winemakers must remove by pouring the wine into new containers to prevent it from becoming bitter and unpalatable. Vintage wine is best, but not when it is soured by accumulated sediment. The Moabites refused to be refined by the Lord. They were a bad taste and a bad aroma to God. Thus, the Lord was about to remove them from His land.
The nature of God is to pour out Himself for others. God the Father poured out Himself for us in giving us His Son. The Son poured out Himself for us on the cross to give us eternal life. The Spirit poured out Himself into human flesh that we might have God’s abiding presence within us. To be godly, we too must be willing to be poured out for God’s purposes.
“Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, their confidence. How can you say, ‘We are mighty and strong men for the war?’ Moab is plundered and gone up from her cities; her chosen young men have gone down to the slaughter,’ says the King, whose Name is the Lord of hosts.” Jeremiah 48:13-15
In 1 Kings 12:27, 29, King Jeroboam set up golden calves in Bethel for the people to worship. The idolatrous northern tribes of Israel had already been taken in captivity to Assyria. Idols did not save them and idols would not save Moab. Moab’s mighty men failed them as well. The Moabites were first captives inwardly, and then, afterwards, captives outwardly.
Matthew 12:28-29 says that Jesus expelled demons by the Spirit of God. Jesus compared demons with strong men who can be bound and then cast out from one’s house. 1 John 3:8 says for this purpose was the Son of God manifest to destroy the work of the evil one. The Lord prefers to save people than to see them destroyed, but people must call upon Him for help.
“The calamity of Moab is near at hand, and his affliction comes quickly. Bemoan him, all you who are around him; and all you who know his name, say, ‘How the strong staff is broken, the beautiful rod!’” Jeremiah 48:16-17
The Lord announces that these prophetic events are near at hand. 23 years later they came to pass. This prophecy was likely uttered in the fourth year of Jehoiakim and fulfilled in the fifth year of Nebuchadnezzar (2 Kings 24:2). The Lord says, “Bemoan him.”
The Lord says that Moab’s strong staff and beautiful rod will be broken. “To give an idea how many sheep the Moabites had, in the days of King Mesha they supplied Israel with 100,000 lambs and 100,000 fleeces in annual tribute.” [2]
“O daughter inhabiting Dibon, come down from your glory, and sit in thirst; for the plunderer of Moab has come against you, he has destroyed your strongholds. O inhabitant of Aroer, stand by the way and watch; ask him who flees and her who escapes; say, ‘What has happened?’” Jeremiah 48:18-19
Dibon on the Arnon River had access water but would be reduced to shame and thirst. The border town people of Aroer would ask the people who were fleeing, “What has happened?” They did not have modern communication methods in those days, so when the prophecy comes to pass, the border town people will wonder why the Moabites are fleeing their country.
“Moab is shamed, for he is broken down. Wail and cry! Tell it in Arnon that Moab is plundered. And judgment has come on the plain country: on Holon and Jahzah and Mephaath, on Dibon and Nebo and Beth Diblathaim, on Kirjathaim and Beth Gamul and Beth Meon, on Kerioth and Bozrah, on all the cities of the land of Moab, far or near. The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken, says the Lord.” Jeremiah 48:20-24
The Lord encourages loud cries for Moab. Let the people along Arnon River on the border with Ammon know what is happening. He lists eleven cities of Moab by name and then, says, “all the cities of the land of Moab far or near.” “The horn of Moab is cut off” means his strength is gone. His arm is broken means he cannot fight.
“Make him drunk because he exalted himself against the Lord. Moab shall wallow in his vomit, and he shall also be in derision. For was not Israel a derision to you? Was he found among thieves? For whenever you speak of him, you shake your head in scorn. You who dwell in Moab, leave the cities and dwell in the rock, and be like the dove which makes her nest in the sides of the cave’s mouth.” Jeremiah 48:25-28
The cup of God’s wrath is alluded to in various verses of the Bible. Jesus drank this cup for us. The cup of wrath is a brew of curses for lawbreakers. Galatians 3:10 speaks of these curses, saying, “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.’” Galatians 3:13-14 says, “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”
God would have been merciful to the Moabites if they had humbly turned to Him and professed their need of Him. Moab chose to exalt himself against the Lord. They mocked Israel. Thus, the Lord advised the Moabites to flee to the mountains and make nests like doves do in caves.
What would become of Moab’s brew? Moab was a wine producer. Vomiting and wallowing in vomit is a symptom of too much alcohol content in one’s body. Ironically, Moab who made others drunk to the point of vomiting would become drunk and wallow in their vomit.
“We have heard the pride of Moab (he is exceedingly proud), of his loftiness, arrogance, and pride, and of the haughtiness of his heart. I know his wrath, says the Lord, but it is not right; his lies have made nothing right.” Jeremiah 48:29-30
According to Proverbs 6:16-19 there are six things the Lord hates. At top of the list is “haughty eyes.” Who is anyone to be arrogant against another? We are all equally created by God. He created and sustains us. He hates it when we look down on others. If we do it, it is we who are low down in that moment.
James 4:6 says, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” John R.W. Stott wrote, “Pride is your greatest enemy. Humility is your greatest friend.” C.S. Lewis wrote, “It was through pride that the devil became the devil.”
Moab’s heart was filled with pride, wrath and lies. If he had turned to the Lord, the Lord would have cleansed his heart and filled it with love, joy and peace.
“Therefore I will wail for Moab, and I will cry out for all Moab; I will mourn for the men of Kir Heres. O vine of Sibmah! I will weep for you with the weeping of Jazer. Your plants have gone over the sea, they reach to the sea of Jazer. The plunderer has fallen on your summer fruit and your vintage. Joy and gladness are taken from the plentiful field and from the land of Moab; I have caused wine to fail from the winepresses; no one will tread with joyous shouting — not joyous shouting!” Jeremiah 48:31-33
Ephesians 4:30 urges us not to grieve the Holy Spirit of God. The prophet speaks of wailing, crying, mourning and weeping for the Moabites. He is sad that beautiful people in a beautiful land have shut their ears to God. Sibmah was noted for its vineyards. Jazer was noted for its cattle. The Lord showed Jeremiah visions of their harvest being removed by foreigners. Rather than joy, gladness and shouting at harvest time, they would experience sadness.
The Lord speaks in similar way of Babylon in Revelation 18:22. He says, “The voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in you.”
“From the cry of Heshbon to Elealeh and to Jahaz they have uttered their voice, from Zoar to Horonaim, like a three-year-old heifer; for the waters of Nimrim also shall be desolate.” Jeremiah 48:34
Heshbon was a fertile land. Elealeh, Zoar, Horonaim and the waters of Nimrim are all locations in Moab. Those who flee from Heshbon shall cry as a young heifer because there is no water. Moabites shall flee as far as Elealeh. Thus, there will be cries in all quarters, from one end of the country to the other. Everywhere slaughter and wasting!
“Moreover, says the Lord, I will cause to cease in Moab the one who offers sacrifices in the high places and burns incense to his gods. Therefore My heart shall wail like flutes for Moab, and like flutes My heart shall wail for the men of Kir Heres. Therefore, the riches they have acquired have perished.” Jeremiah 48:35-36
Sacrifices and incense burning to idols ceases because the people are gone. Flutes were used at funerals and in general mourning. Kir Heres was a city in Moab. Their devotion to false gods was an ill-advised investment. They reaped death.
In Luke 12:21, Jesus warned against laying up treasures for self and not being rich toward God.
“For every head shall be bald, and every beard clipped; on all the hands shall be cuts, and on the loins sackcloth. A general lamentation on all the housetops of Moab, and in its streets; for I have broken Moab like a vessel in which is no pleasure, says the Lord. They shall wail: how she is broken down! How Moab has turned her back with shame! So, Moab shall be a derision and a dismay to all those about her.” Jeremiah 48:37-39
“For I have broken Moab like a vessel in which is no pleasure, says the Lord.” This word harkens back to Jeremiah 18:1-10 where the Lord showed Jeremiah a potter making a pot. When the pot did not meet his expectation, the potter reformed the clay into another pot. If an earthly potter could do what seemed best to him, God declared that He could do so as well. If God has no pleasure in a nation, He can reform it.
Paul wrote in Romans 9:21-23, “What if God, wanting to show His wrath and make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory?” The Moabites had committed horrific crimes. God was very patient with them. He warned them. They ignored his warnings. He intervened. Without grief, there is no newness. The Lord brought grief so at least some of them might be made anew.
Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 2:20-21, “In a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.” A person’s transformation from dishonor to honor occurs via repentance of sin, receiving Christ and being filled the Holy Spirit. A person filled with the Spirit is a vessel of honor. “Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ is not His.” (Romans 8:9)
“For thus says the Lord: behold, one shall fly like an eagle and spread his wings over Moab. Kerioth is taken, and the strongholds are surprised; the mighty men’s hearts in Moab on that day shall be like the heart of a woman in birth pangs. And Moab shall be destroyed as a people because he exalted himself against the Lord. Fear and the pit and the snare shall be upon you, O inhabitant of Moab, says the Lord. He who flees from the fear shall fall into the pit, and he who gets out of the pit shall be caught in the snare. For upon Moab, upon it I will bring the year of their punishment, says the Lord.” Jeremiah 48:40-44
Nebuzaradan, the captain of Nebuchadnezzar’s army, is the eagle that hovered around Moab until the time appointed by the Lord for him to swoop down and carry Moab away. Kerioth is specifically mentioned as being surprised. The hearts of mighty men would experience intense fear. Those who tried to escape would be captured by ambushes prepared for them. The year of Moab’s punishment would come suddenly. “The eagle swooped as promised. Josephus reported how Nebuchadnezzar came from Babylon in 582 B.C. to destroy the Moabites.” [3]
“Those who fled, stood under the shadow of Heshbon because of exhaustion, but a fire shall come out of Heshbon, a flame from the midst of Sihon, and shall devour the brow of Moab, the crown of the head of the sons of tumult. Woe to you, O Moab! The people of Chemosh perish; for your sons have been taken captive, and your daughters captive.” Jeremiah 48:45-46
Jeremiah sees the escapees from the battle resting under the cool shadow of Heshbon City but suddenly a fire devours them. The people of Chemosh perish. They bowed to a false god and that false god let them down.
“Chemosh worship was a bloody business. When Mesha king of Moab saw that he was about to be defeated by Jehoshaphat king of Judah, he sacrificed his firstborn son to Chemosh on the walls of Kir Hareseth. In the days of Balaam, Moabite women seduced the Israelites to worship their gods. King Solomon later married Moabite women and set up an altar to Chemosh.” “The Bible says that one reason Israel finally was divided into two kingdoms was because God’s people worshiped ‘Chemosh the god of Moabites,’ among other pagan deities.” [4]
“Like all the judgment passages of Jeremiah, chapter 48 is a warning about sin’s wages.” [5]
The Lord revealed to the Apostle John a worse future for unbelievers than Jeremiah did to the Moabites. In Revelation 20:9-10, 15, John saw fire come down from God out of heaven and devour those who made war with Christ and Christ’s followers. The devil was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone to be tormented day and night forever and ever. “Anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.”
The Lord warns us in the New Testament to believe the prophetic words of God more than the consensus of unbelieving people around us. 1 Thessalonians 5:3 says, “For when they shall say, peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.”
God’s love for people compels Him to tell us that the wages of sin is death. Our sin cost His Son Jesus Christ a very cruel and inhumane death on the cross. The cross reminds us that sin is unacceptable to God. God’s love for people also compels Him to tell us that His gift to us is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, resurrected from the dead on the third day. He revealed Himself to His disciples so that we would know that He has the power to resurrect the dead and to give eternal life to everyone who believes in Him.
“Yet I will bring back the captives of Moab in the latter days, says the Lord. Thus far is the judgment of Moab.” Jeremiah 48:47
In Habakkuk 3:2, the prophet prayed, “O Lord, revive Your work in the midst of the years! In the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy.” Jeremiah saw a remnant of the captive Moabites returning to their land. Theo Laetsch wrote, “While Moab’s national existence has ceased forever, descendants of Moab also are among the elect of God, and He knows where and how to find these individuals chosen by Him to be heirs of eternal life.”
The Lord remembered the descendants of Lot with mercy. The Moabite race descended from Lot. God rescued Lot and his family from Sodom and Gomorrah. In 2 Peter 2:7-8, Peter wrote that the Lord “delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds).”
Among Lot’s descendants there shall always be a remnant of people who have faith in God as he did. Ruth and her grandson David were his descendants. Jesus was also in his genealogy. The most important connection anyone can have is to be connected to Jesus Christ. “Whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)
[1] 1 Samuel 15:1-34; 2 Samuel 1:10
[2] Dr. Phillip Graham Ryken, Jeremiah and Lamentations from Sorrow to Hope, Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL, © 2001, p. 664-665. See also 2 Kings 3:4.
[3] Dr. Phillip Graham Ryken, Jeremiah and Lamentations from Sorrow to Hope, Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL, © 2001, p. 660-661. Includes a quote from Flavius Josephus, The Antiquities of the Jews, in The Works of Josephus, trans. William Whiston (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1987), 10.9.7.See also Jeremiah 48:29-31, 40
[4] Dr. Phillip Graham Ryken, Jeremiah and Lamentations from Sorrow to Hope, Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL, © 2001, p. 664. See also Numbers 25; 1 Kings 11:1-13, 33; 2 Kings 3:26-27
[5] Dr. Phillip Graham Ryken, Jeremiah and Lamentations from Sorrow to Hope, Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL, © 2001, p. 666-668
“Concerning Moab: this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Woe to Nebo, for it will be plundered. Kiriathaim will be disgraced and captured; the stronghold will be disgraced and shattered. Moab will be praised no more. In Heshbon people will plot her downfall: ‘Come, let us put an end to that nation.’ You also shall be cut down, O Madmen! The sword shall pursue you. Cries of anguish arise from Horonaim, ‘Plundering and great destruction!’ Moab is destroyed. Her little ones have caused a cry to be heard. For in the Ascent of Luhith they ascend with continual weeping; for in the descent of Horonaim the enemies have heard a cry of destruction. ‘Flee, save your lives! And be like the juniper in the wilderness.’” Jeremiah 48:1-6
Nebo is located near to the northeast corner of the Dead Sea. Kiriathaim, Heshbon, Horonaim and the ascent of Luhith are all locations in Moab. The Lord provides details of what is about to happen to them. For example, Nebo will be plundered. Moab’s stronghold at Kiriathaim will be captured and destroyed. The people will cry tears as they flee up the hills in Luhith because of the destruction below.
“Because you have trusted in your works and your treasures, you also shall be taken. Chemosh shall go forth into captivity, his priests, and his princes together. The plunderer shall come against every city,. No one shall escape. The valley also shall perish, and the plain shall be destroyed, as the Lord has spoken. Give wings to Moab, that she may flee and get away; for her cities shall be desolate, without any to dwell in them.” Jeremiah 48:7-9
The Moabites misplaced their trust. They trusted in their works, their treasures and in their false god Chemosh. His priests and princes led them to adore things that could not save them. Jesus said in John 10:10, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” Apart the Lord there is no victory over the devil. The Moabites needed to listen to God’s voice via Jeremiah. In fact, the Lord suggested that they should be given wings to escape what was coming.
“Cursed is he who does the work of the Lord deceitfully, and cursed is he who keeps back his sword from blood.” Jeremiah 48:10
This was a word to those appointed to execute vengeance on Moab’s sin. King Nebuchadnezzar ordered his soldiers to decimate them. Whoever let them escape would be held accountable.
God gave a similar order to King Saul of Israel. The Lord told him to not spare one Amalekite, but Saul spared their king. The Lord rebuked Saul via His prophet Samuel. Then, God took from Saul His Spirit, his crown and his life. An Amalekite dealt the final death blow to Saul. [1]
Moab needed the God of David. David was the great grandson of a Moabite woman named Ruth. Ruth was a Moabite woman who placed her trust in the God of Israel. In fact, her name appears in Matthew 1:5 in the genealogy of Jesus.
Moab’s past accolades and current finances would be insufficient to defeat the Babylonians. Moab was famous for its fortresses, but those fortresses would be no match for the battering rams and siege towers of the Babylonians. Moab’s fake god “Chemosh” would not help him.
“Moab has been at ease from his youth. He has settled on his lees, and has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, nor has he gone into captivity. Therefore, his taste remained in him, and his scent has not changed. Therefore behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that I shall send him wine-workers who will tip him over and empty his vessels and break the bottles.” Jeremiah 48:11-12
Lees are sediments that winemakers must remove by pouring the wine into new containers to prevent it from becoming bitter and unpalatable. Vintage wine is best, but not when it is soured by accumulated sediment. The Moabites refused to be refined by the Lord. They were a bad taste and a bad aroma to God. Thus, the Lord was about to remove them from His land.
The nature of God is to pour out Himself for others. God the Father poured out Himself for us in giving us His Son. The Son poured out Himself for us on the cross to give us eternal life. The Spirit poured out Himself into human flesh that we might have God’s abiding presence within us. To be godly, we too must be willing to be poured out for God’s purposes.
“Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, their confidence. How can you say, ‘We are mighty and strong men for the war?’ Moab is plundered and gone up from her cities; her chosen young men have gone down to the slaughter,’ says the King, whose Name is the Lord of hosts.” Jeremiah 48:13-15
In 1 Kings 12:27, 29, King Jeroboam set up golden calves in Bethel for the people to worship. The idolatrous northern tribes of Israel had already been taken in captivity to Assyria. Idols did not save them and idols would not save Moab. Moab’s mighty men failed them as well. The Moabites were first captives inwardly, and then, afterwards, captives outwardly.
Matthew 12:28-29 says that Jesus expelled demons by the Spirit of God. Jesus compared demons with strong men who can be bound and then cast out from one’s house. 1 John 3:8 says for this purpose was the Son of God manifest to destroy the work of the evil one. The Lord prefers to save people than to see them destroyed, but people must call upon Him for help.
“The calamity of Moab is near at hand, and his affliction comes quickly. Bemoan him, all you who are around him; and all you who know his name, say, ‘How the strong staff is broken, the beautiful rod!’” Jeremiah 48:16-17
The Lord announces that these prophetic events are near at hand. 23 years later they came to pass. This prophecy was likely uttered in the fourth year of Jehoiakim and fulfilled in the fifth year of Nebuchadnezzar (2 Kings 24:2). The Lord says, “Bemoan him.”
The Lord says that Moab’s strong staff and beautiful rod will be broken. “To give an idea how many sheep the Moabites had, in the days of King Mesha they supplied Israel with 100,000 lambs and 100,000 fleeces in annual tribute.” [2]
“O daughter inhabiting Dibon, come down from your glory, and sit in thirst; for the plunderer of Moab has come against you, he has destroyed your strongholds. O inhabitant of Aroer, stand by the way and watch; ask him who flees and her who escapes; say, ‘What has happened?’” Jeremiah 48:18-19
Dibon on the Arnon River had access water but would be reduced to shame and thirst. The border town people of Aroer would ask the people who were fleeing, “What has happened?” They did not have modern communication methods in those days, so when the prophecy comes to pass, the border town people will wonder why the Moabites are fleeing their country.
“Moab is shamed, for he is broken down. Wail and cry! Tell it in Arnon that Moab is plundered. And judgment has come on the plain country: on Holon and Jahzah and Mephaath, on Dibon and Nebo and Beth Diblathaim, on Kirjathaim and Beth Gamul and Beth Meon, on Kerioth and Bozrah, on all the cities of the land of Moab, far or near. The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken, says the Lord.” Jeremiah 48:20-24
The Lord encourages loud cries for Moab. Let the people along Arnon River on the border with Ammon know what is happening. He lists eleven cities of Moab by name and then, says, “all the cities of the land of Moab far or near.” “The horn of Moab is cut off” means his strength is gone. His arm is broken means he cannot fight.
“Make him drunk because he exalted himself against the Lord. Moab shall wallow in his vomit, and he shall also be in derision. For was not Israel a derision to you? Was he found among thieves? For whenever you speak of him, you shake your head in scorn. You who dwell in Moab, leave the cities and dwell in the rock, and be like the dove which makes her nest in the sides of the cave’s mouth.” Jeremiah 48:25-28
The cup of God’s wrath is alluded to in various verses of the Bible. Jesus drank this cup for us. The cup of wrath is a brew of curses for lawbreakers. Galatians 3:10 speaks of these curses, saying, “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.’” Galatians 3:13-14 says, “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”
God would have been merciful to the Moabites if they had humbly turned to Him and professed their need of Him. Moab chose to exalt himself against the Lord. They mocked Israel. Thus, the Lord advised the Moabites to flee to the mountains and make nests like doves do in caves.
What would become of Moab’s brew? Moab was a wine producer. Vomiting and wallowing in vomit is a symptom of too much alcohol content in one’s body. Ironically, Moab who made others drunk to the point of vomiting would become drunk and wallow in their vomit.
“We have heard the pride of Moab (he is exceedingly proud), of his loftiness, arrogance, and pride, and of the haughtiness of his heart. I know his wrath, says the Lord, but it is not right; his lies have made nothing right.” Jeremiah 48:29-30
According to Proverbs 6:16-19 there are six things the Lord hates. At top of the list is “haughty eyes.” Who is anyone to be arrogant against another? We are all equally created by God. He created and sustains us. He hates it when we look down on others. If we do it, it is we who are low down in that moment.
James 4:6 says, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” John R.W. Stott wrote, “Pride is your greatest enemy. Humility is your greatest friend.” C.S. Lewis wrote, “It was through pride that the devil became the devil.”
Moab’s heart was filled with pride, wrath and lies. If he had turned to the Lord, the Lord would have cleansed his heart and filled it with love, joy and peace.
“Therefore I will wail for Moab, and I will cry out for all Moab; I will mourn for the men of Kir Heres. O vine of Sibmah! I will weep for you with the weeping of Jazer. Your plants have gone over the sea, they reach to the sea of Jazer. The plunderer has fallen on your summer fruit and your vintage. Joy and gladness are taken from the plentiful field and from the land of Moab; I have caused wine to fail from the winepresses; no one will tread with joyous shouting — not joyous shouting!” Jeremiah 48:31-33
Ephesians 4:30 urges us not to grieve the Holy Spirit of God. The prophet speaks of wailing, crying, mourning and weeping for the Moabites. He is sad that beautiful people in a beautiful land have shut their ears to God. Sibmah was noted for its vineyards. Jazer was noted for its cattle. The Lord showed Jeremiah visions of their harvest being removed by foreigners. Rather than joy, gladness and shouting at harvest time, they would experience sadness.
The Lord speaks in similar way of Babylon in Revelation 18:22. He says, “The voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in you.”
“From the cry of Heshbon to Elealeh and to Jahaz they have uttered their voice, from Zoar to Horonaim, like a three-year-old heifer; for the waters of Nimrim also shall be desolate.” Jeremiah 48:34
Heshbon was a fertile land. Elealeh, Zoar, Horonaim and the waters of Nimrim are all locations in Moab. Those who flee from Heshbon shall cry as a young heifer because there is no water. Moabites shall flee as far as Elealeh. Thus, there will be cries in all quarters, from one end of the country to the other. Everywhere slaughter and wasting!
“Moreover, says the Lord, I will cause to cease in Moab the one who offers sacrifices in the high places and burns incense to his gods. Therefore My heart shall wail like flutes for Moab, and like flutes My heart shall wail for the men of Kir Heres. Therefore, the riches they have acquired have perished.” Jeremiah 48:35-36
Sacrifices and incense burning to idols ceases because the people are gone. Flutes were used at funerals and in general mourning. Kir Heres was a city in Moab. Their devotion to false gods was an ill-advised investment. They reaped death.
In Luke 12:21, Jesus warned against laying up treasures for self and not being rich toward God.
“For every head shall be bald, and every beard clipped; on all the hands shall be cuts, and on the loins sackcloth. A general lamentation on all the housetops of Moab, and in its streets; for I have broken Moab like a vessel in which is no pleasure, says the Lord. They shall wail: how she is broken down! How Moab has turned her back with shame! So, Moab shall be a derision and a dismay to all those about her.” Jeremiah 48:37-39
“For I have broken Moab like a vessel in which is no pleasure, says the Lord.” This word harkens back to Jeremiah 18:1-10 where the Lord showed Jeremiah a potter making a pot. When the pot did not meet his expectation, the potter reformed the clay into another pot. If an earthly potter could do what seemed best to him, God declared that He could do so as well. If God has no pleasure in a nation, He can reform it.
Paul wrote in Romans 9:21-23, “What if God, wanting to show His wrath and make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory?” The Moabites had committed horrific crimes. God was very patient with them. He warned them. They ignored his warnings. He intervened. Without grief, there is no newness. The Lord brought grief so at least some of them might be made anew.
Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 2:20-21, “In a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.” A person’s transformation from dishonor to honor occurs via repentance of sin, receiving Christ and being filled the Holy Spirit. A person filled with the Spirit is a vessel of honor. “Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ is not His.” (Romans 8:9)
“For thus says the Lord: behold, one shall fly like an eagle and spread his wings over Moab. Kerioth is taken, and the strongholds are surprised; the mighty men’s hearts in Moab on that day shall be like the heart of a woman in birth pangs. And Moab shall be destroyed as a people because he exalted himself against the Lord. Fear and the pit and the snare shall be upon you, O inhabitant of Moab, says the Lord. He who flees from the fear shall fall into the pit, and he who gets out of the pit shall be caught in the snare. For upon Moab, upon it I will bring the year of their punishment, says the Lord.” Jeremiah 48:40-44
Nebuzaradan, the captain of Nebuchadnezzar’s army, is the eagle that hovered around Moab until the time appointed by the Lord for him to swoop down and carry Moab away. Kerioth is specifically mentioned as being surprised. The hearts of mighty men would experience intense fear. Those who tried to escape would be captured by ambushes prepared for them. The year of Moab’s punishment would come suddenly. “The eagle swooped as promised. Josephus reported how Nebuchadnezzar came from Babylon in 582 B.C. to destroy the Moabites.” [3]
“Those who fled, stood under the shadow of Heshbon because of exhaustion, but a fire shall come out of Heshbon, a flame from the midst of Sihon, and shall devour the brow of Moab, the crown of the head of the sons of tumult. Woe to you, O Moab! The people of Chemosh perish; for your sons have been taken captive, and your daughters captive.” Jeremiah 48:45-46
Jeremiah sees the escapees from the battle resting under the cool shadow of Heshbon City but suddenly a fire devours them. The people of Chemosh perish. They bowed to a false god and that false god let them down.
“Chemosh worship was a bloody business. When Mesha king of Moab saw that he was about to be defeated by Jehoshaphat king of Judah, he sacrificed his firstborn son to Chemosh on the walls of Kir Hareseth. In the days of Balaam, Moabite women seduced the Israelites to worship their gods. King Solomon later married Moabite women and set up an altar to Chemosh.” “The Bible says that one reason Israel finally was divided into two kingdoms was because God’s people worshiped ‘Chemosh the god of Moabites,’ among other pagan deities.” [4]
“Like all the judgment passages of Jeremiah, chapter 48 is a warning about sin’s wages.” [5]
The Lord revealed to the Apostle John a worse future for unbelievers than Jeremiah did to the Moabites. In Revelation 20:9-10, 15, John saw fire come down from God out of heaven and devour those who made war with Christ and Christ’s followers. The devil was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone to be tormented day and night forever and ever. “Anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.”
The Lord warns us in the New Testament to believe the prophetic words of God more than the consensus of unbelieving people around us. 1 Thessalonians 5:3 says, “For when they shall say, peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.”
God’s love for people compels Him to tell us that the wages of sin is death. Our sin cost His Son Jesus Christ a very cruel and inhumane death on the cross. The cross reminds us that sin is unacceptable to God. God’s love for people also compels Him to tell us that His gift to us is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, resurrected from the dead on the third day. He revealed Himself to His disciples so that we would know that He has the power to resurrect the dead and to give eternal life to everyone who believes in Him.
“Yet I will bring back the captives of Moab in the latter days, says the Lord. Thus far is the judgment of Moab.” Jeremiah 48:47
In Habakkuk 3:2, the prophet prayed, “O Lord, revive Your work in the midst of the years! In the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy.” Jeremiah saw a remnant of the captive Moabites returning to their land. Theo Laetsch wrote, “While Moab’s national existence has ceased forever, descendants of Moab also are among the elect of God, and He knows where and how to find these individuals chosen by Him to be heirs of eternal life.”
The Lord remembered the descendants of Lot with mercy. The Moabite race descended from Lot. God rescued Lot and his family from Sodom and Gomorrah. In 2 Peter 2:7-8, Peter wrote that the Lord “delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds).”
Among Lot’s descendants there shall always be a remnant of people who have faith in God as he did. Ruth and her grandson David were his descendants. Jesus was also in his genealogy. The most important connection anyone can have is to be connected to Jesus Christ. “Whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)
[1] 1 Samuel 15:1-34; 2 Samuel 1:10
[2] Dr. Phillip Graham Ryken, Jeremiah and Lamentations from Sorrow to Hope, Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL, © 2001, p. 664-665. See also 2 Kings 3:4.
[3] Dr. Phillip Graham Ryken, Jeremiah and Lamentations from Sorrow to Hope, Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL, © 2001, p. 660-661. Includes a quote from Flavius Josephus, The Antiquities of the Jews, in The Works of Josephus, trans. William Whiston (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1987), 10.9.7.See also Jeremiah 48:29-31, 40
[4] Dr. Phillip Graham Ryken, Jeremiah and Lamentations from Sorrow to Hope, Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL, © 2001, p. 664. See also Numbers 25; 1 Kings 11:1-13, 33; 2 Kings 3:26-27
[5] Dr. Phillip Graham Ryken, Jeremiah and Lamentations from Sorrow to Hope, Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL, © 2001, p. 666-668
The Lord Jesus has graced me with revelations from the Book of Jeremiah that are helpful to better understanding the relevance of the Law, the Prophets, the Gospel, the Apostles, and the Book of Revelation. I am in the midst of preparing 54 video-recorded presentations, one for each chapter of Jeremiah, plus an intro and conclusion presentation. When the presentations are done, I plan to publish them on YouTube. I also welcome invitations to share these revelations in-person. In the meantime, I publish articles online, intercede for the peoples of the nations, and say to the Lord, “Here am I Lord, send me.”
Thursday, October 9, 2025
The Word of Knowledge
The Word of the Lord in Jeremiah chapter 47 is a word of knowledge. Jeremiah knew and prophesied by the Spirit of the Lord what would happen to the people of Gaza. The Spirit of the Lord also included words about Egypt, Tyre and Sidon in this prophecy.
“The Word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Philistines before Pharaoh attacked Gaza. ‘Thus says the Lord: behold, waters rise out of the north and shall be an overflowing flood; they shall overflow the land and all that is in it, the city and those who dwell within; then the men shall cry, and all the inhabitants of the land shall wail. At the noise of the stamping hooves of his strong horses, at the rushing of his chariots, at the rumbling of his wheels, the fathers will not look back for their children, lacking courage, because of the day that comes to plunder all the Philistines, to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every helper who remains; for the Lord shall plunder the Philistines, the remnant of the country of Caphtor.’” Jeremiah 47:1-4
A word of knowledge is a gift of the Holy Spirit. Gifts of the Holy Spirit are explained In 1 Corinthians 12. In 1 Corinthians 12:1, 4, 7-8, Paul wrote, “Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed.” “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them.” “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a word of wisdom, to another a word of knowledge by means of the same Spirit.” In the Bible, a word of knowledge is a spiritual gift from the Holy Spirit that provides truth that couldn’t be known by natural means. It can manifest as thoughts, images, dreams, or even physical sensations, conveying knowledge for the purpose of guidance.
In John 16:13, Jesus said that the Holy Spirit guides His followers into all truth. If we are guided by truth, we are not deceived. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are navigational in nature. For example, the Greek word for the gift of administration in 1 Corinthians 12:28 is “κυβέρνησις” (kubernesis) means “to steer” or “to rule or govern.” This gift steers people correctly.
When my wife and I took the Gospel to China, the Holy Spirit gave us words of knowledge at times that helped us. For example, one time we were waiting at a bus stop. Our plan was to join a gathering of believers that evening. The buses at that stop usually arrived every 10-15 minutes, but this time, an half hour had passed and no bus arrived. Sherry and I were the only ones waiting there, so we began to pray, and an unpeaceful feeling came over us. After Holy Spirit removed peace from us, we returned home. The next day, we received news that soldiers had invaded the meeting. One missionary and many Chinese believers were taken captive by them. Thanks to the Holy Spirit giving us a word of knowledge in a very special way, we avoided being taken captive. If arrested, I would have been fired from my job and we would have lost our home in China.
In the Book of Acts, the Holy Spirit gave to Agabus words of knowledge. Acts 11:27-29 says, “And in these days prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch. Then one of them, named Agabus, stood up and showed by the Spirit that there was going to be a great famine throughout all the world, which also happened in the days of Claudius Caesar. Then the disciples, each according to his ability, determined to send relief to the brethren dwelling in Judea.” Thanks to the Holy Spirit and God’s listening servant Agabus, God’s people in Jerusalem did not go hungry during a famine.
In Acts 21:10-11, the Holy Spirit gave to Agabus a word of knowledge for the Apostle Paul. “He took Paul’s belt, bound his own hands and feet, and said, ‘Thus says the Holy Spirit, so shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt, and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’” This word of knowledge came to pass because Paul went to Jerusalem, but at least, Paul knew beforehand what would happen. In Acts 21:13, he told his fellow believers, “I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the Name of the Lord Jesus.”
Jeremiah received his prophetic words from the Holy Spirit. 2 Peter 1:21 says, “For prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” How did David, a man of war and a nation’s king, write the Book of Psalms? The Psalms have very accurate prophetic words that describe the coming of Messiah (see Psalm 22:16-18). In 2 Samuel 23:2, David testified, “The Spirit of the Lord spoke through me; His word was on my tongue.” The Holy Spirit gave Jeremiah and David the right words to say.
The Holy Spirit gives gifts to those who witness for Jesus Christ. In Acts 5:29, Peter and the other apostles answered those who opposed them, saying, “We ought to obey God rather than men.” In Acts 5:32, they testified, “We are His [Christ’s] witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him.” In Matthew 6:24, Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” To witness for Christ is to die to self and to live for Christ.
The Holy Spirit’s word for the Philistines via Jeremiah was that the Pharoah’s army would overflow their nation from the north. Now, Egypt is south of Gaza so why would Pharoah’s army flow over them from the north? The Holy Spirit gave Jeremiah a word of knowledge. What was not known at the time was that Pharoah would attack Tyre and Sidon to the north of Gaza first, and then attack Gaza afterwards. The Philistines had hoped that the people of Tyre and Sidon would help them against the Pharaoh, but that was not going to happen.
The Holy Spirit used the imagery of a flood overflowing Gaza when He spoke of Pharoah’s army overrunning Gaza. In Revelation 12:15-16, the Holy Spirit uses the imagery of a serpent spewing a flood out of his mouth to destroy those who keep God’s commandments and the testimony of Jesus. The imagery of the earth opening its mouth to swallow the flood symbolizes God eliminating the army that thought to destroy His people. In this case of the Philistines, God did not intervene. They did not pray to Him. In the case of the saints, God did intervene.
Jeremiah prophesied, “The Lord shall plunder the Philistines.” The Lord took credit for Gaza’s demise. They had no use for Him and for His prophets. So, He did not help them in the day that tries by fire. In fact, when the Philistine fathers heard the hooves of horses and the rumbling of chariot wheels approaching, they fled for their lives. They didn’t look back. They even left their children behind. How could they be so heartless?
In Jeremiah 47:4, the Lord mentions the remnant of Caphtor. The Caphtorim and Philistines are both descendants of Mizraim. Mizraim is the Hebrew name for ancient Egypt. In Genesis 10:13, Egypt is listed as “the father of Casluhim from whom came the Philistines and Caphtorim.” They are all descendants of Noah’s son Ham according to Genesis 10:6-20.
Later, in Amos 9:7, the Lord brought the Philistines back to their land from Egypt. Amos wrote, “Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt, the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir?”
“Baldness has come upon Gaza. Ashkelon is cut off with the remnant of their valley. How long will you cut yourself? Jeremiah 47:5
Gaza is represented as one who will shave her head. Shaving the head and cutting one’s flesh was a way of mourning among the pagans according to Leviticus 19:28 and Jeremiah 48:37. Ashkelon is located on a long strip of low land along the Mediterranean west of the mountains of Judea. They too would cut themselves as they mourned their losses.
“O you sword of the Lord, how long until you are quiet? Put yourself up into your scabbard, rest and be still! How can it be quiet, seeing the Lord has given it a charge against Ashkelon and against the seashore? There He has appointed it.” Jeremiah 47:6-7
The Lord expresses the words which the Philistines will be saying during this attack. They will ask the sword of the Lord to be silenced and put away. But Pharoah’s sword will not comply with their wishes because it has been commanded by the Lord to strike them.
There are websites like https://www.gotquestions.org/Palestinian-descent.html that explain the history of the Philistines. One website said that the Philistines were completely wiped out and replaced by Arab people from the surrounding areas including as far away as Türkiye. The Greeks and Romans were the first invaders to begin referring to the lands that were formerly known as Israel and Philistia as Palestine. In any case, whether in the time of Jeremiah or in our time today, one lesson that we take away from Jeremiah 47 is to be guided by and to obey the leading of the Holy Spirit.
“The Word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Philistines before Pharaoh attacked Gaza. ‘Thus says the Lord: behold, waters rise out of the north and shall be an overflowing flood; they shall overflow the land and all that is in it, the city and those who dwell within; then the men shall cry, and all the inhabitants of the land shall wail. At the noise of the stamping hooves of his strong horses, at the rushing of his chariots, at the rumbling of his wheels, the fathers will not look back for their children, lacking courage, because of the day that comes to plunder all the Philistines, to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every helper who remains; for the Lord shall plunder the Philistines, the remnant of the country of Caphtor.’” Jeremiah 47:1-4
A word of knowledge is a gift of the Holy Spirit. Gifts of the Holy Spirit are explained In 1 Corinthians 12. In 1 Corinthians 12:1, 4, 7-8, Paul wrote, “Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed.” “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them.” “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a word of wisdom, to another a word of knowledge by means of the same Spirit.” In the Bible, a word of knowledge is a spiritual gift from the Holy Spirit that provides truth that couldn’t be known by natural means. It can manifest as thoughts, images, dreams, or even physical sensations, conveying knowledge for the purpose of guidance.
In John 16:13, Jesus said that the Holy Spirit guides His followers into all truth. If we are guided by truth, we are not deceived. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are navigational in nature. For example, the Greek word for the gift of administration in 1 Corinthians 12:28 is “κυβέρνησις” (kubernesis) means “to steer” or “to rule or govern.” This gift steers people correctly.
When my wife and I took the Gospel to China, the Holy Spirit gave us words of knowledge at times that helped us. For example, one time we were waiting at a bus stop. Our plan was to join a gathering of believers that evening. The buses at that stop usually arrived every 10-15 minutes, but this time, an half hour had passed and no bus arrived. Sherry and I were the only ones waiting there, so we began to pray, and an unpeaceful feeling came over us. After Holy Spirit removed peace from us, we returned home. The next day, we received news that soldiers had invaded the meeting. One missionary and many Chinese believers were taken captive by them. Thanks to the Holy Spirit giving us a word of knowledge in a very special way, we avoided being taken captive. If arrested, I would have been fired from my job and we would have lost our home in China.
In the Book of Acts, the Holy Spirit gave to Agabus words of knowledge. Acts 11:27-29 says, “And in these days prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch. Then one of them, named Agabus, stood up and showed by the Spirit that there was going to be a great famine throughout all the world, which also happened in the days of Claudius Caesar. Then the disciples, each according to his ability, determined to send relief to the brethren dwelling in Judea.” Thanks to the Holy Spirit and God’s listening servant Agabus, God’s people in Jerusalem did not go hungry during a famine.
In Acts 21:10-11, the Holy Spirit gave to Agabus a word of knowledge for the Apostle Paul. “He took Paul’s belt, bound his own hands and feet, and said, ‘Thus says the Holy Spirit, so shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt, and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’” This word of knowledge came to pass because Paul went to Jerusalem, but at least, Paul knew beforehand what would happen. In Acts 21:13, he told his fellow believers, “I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the Name of the Lord Jesus.”
Jeremiah received his prophetic words from the Holy Spirit. 2 Peter 1:21 says, “For prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” How did David, a man of war and a nation’s king, write the Book of Psalms? The Psalms have very accurate prophetic words that describe the coming of Messiah (see Psalm 22:16-18). In 2 Samuel 23:2, David testified, “The Spirit of the Lord spoke through me; His word was on my tongue.” The Holy Spirit gave Jeremiah and David the right words to say.
The Holy Spirit gives gifts to those who witness for Jesus Christ. In Acts 5:29, Peter and the other apostles answered those who opposed them, saying, “We ought to obey God rather than men.” In Acts 5:32, they testified, “We are His [Christ’s] witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him.” In Matthew 6:24, Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” To witness for Christ is to die to self and to live for Christ.
The Holy Spirit’s word for the Philistines via Jeremiah was that the Pharoah’s army would overflow their nation from the north. Now, Egypt is south of Gaza so why would Pharoah’s army flow over them from the north? The Holy Spirit gave Jeremiah a word of knowledge. What was not known at the time was that Pharoah would attack Tyre and Sidon to the north of Gaza first, and then attack Gaza afterwards. The Philistines had hoped that the people of Tyre and Sidon would help them against the Pharaoh, but that was not going to happen.
The Holy Spirit used the imagery of a flood overflowing Gaza when He spoke of Pharoah’s army overrunning Gaza. In Revelation 12:15-16, the Holy Spirit uses the imagery of a serpent spewing a flood out of his mouth to destroy those who keep God’s commandments and the testimony of Jesus. The imagery of the earth opening its mouth to swallow the flood symbolizes God eliminating the army that thought to destroy His people. In this case of the Philistines, God did not intervene. They did not pray to Him. In the case of the saints, God did intervene.
Jeremiah prophesied, “The Lord shall plunder the Philistines.” The Lord took credit for Gaza’s demise. They had no use for Him and for His prophets. So, He did not help them in the day that tries by fire. In fact, when the Philistine fathers heard the hooves of horses and the rumbling of chariot wheels approaching, they fled for their lives. They didn’t look back. They even left their children behind. How could they be so heartless?
In Jeremiah 47:4, the Lord mentions the remnant of Caphtor. The Caphtorim and Philistines are both descendants of Mizraim. Mizraim is the Hebrew name for ancient Egypt. In Genesis 10:13, Egypt is listed as “the father of Casluhim from whom came the Philistines and Caphtorim.” They are all descendants of Noah’s son Ham according to Genesis 10:6-20.
Later, in Amos 9:7, the Lord brought the Philistines back to their land from Egypt. Amos wrote, “Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt, the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir?”
“Baldness has come upon Gaza. Ashkelon is cut off with the remnant of their valley. How long will you cut yourself? Jeremiah 47:5
Gaza is represented as one who will shave her head. Shaving the head and cutting one’s flesh was a way of mourning among the pagans according to Leviticus 19:28 and Jeremiah 48:37. Ashkelon is located on a long strip of low land along the Mediterranean west of the mountains of Judea. They too would cut themselves as they mourned their losses.
“O you sword of the Lord, how long until you are quiet? Put yourself up into your scabbard, rest and be still! How can it be quiet, seeing the Lord has given it a charge against Ashkelon and against the seashore? There He has appointed it.” Jeremiah 47:6-7
The Lord expresses the words which the Philistines will be saying during this attack. They will ask the sword of the Lord to be silenced and put away. But Pharoah’s sword will not comply with their wishes because it has been commanded by the Lord to strike them.
There are websites like https://www.gotquestions.org/Palestinian-descent.html that explain the history of the Philistines. One website said that the Philistines were completely wiped out and replaced by Arab people from the surrounding areas including as far away as Türkiye. The Greeks and Romans were the first invaders to begin referring to the lands that were formerly known as Israel and Philistia as Palestine. In any case, whether in the time of Jeremiah or in our time today, one lesson that we take away from Jeremiah 47 is to be guided by and to obey the leading of the Holy Spirit.
The Lord Jesus has graced me with revelations from the Book of Jeremiah that are helpful to better understanding the relevance of the Law, the Prophets, the Gospel, the Apostles, and the Book of Revelation. I am in the midst of preparing 54 video-recorded presentations, one for each chapter of Jeremiah, plus an intro and conclusion presentation. When the presentations are done, I plan to publish them on YouTube. I also welcome invitations to share these revelations in-person. In the meantime, I publish articles online, intercede for the peoples of the nations, and say to the Lord, “Here am I Lord, send me.”
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