Alright, let's open our Bibles
to Jeremiah 51. Jeremiah 51. Last Sunday evening, I went through
Jeremiah chapter 50 and I want us to be reminded that these
two chapters here, as we come pretty much to the close of Jeremiah,
we've got one more chapter after this one. The chapters 50 and
51 are one unit. one literary unit, and it speaks
of the fall and destruction of Babylon, the literal empire,
city, army, nation of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon,
and a few of his descendants, and then their destruction. We
read about the destruction of spiritual Babylon in Revelation
18 there. So we see that Babylon is not
only a literal nation, but a symbol, a metaphor of the world system
in opposition to God. But these chapters also speak
of the hope of the restoration of the people of God, Judah.
And again, there was a literal, limited, and temporary fulfillment
of that when they returned from their captivity after Babylon
was destroyed and conquered. But the ultimate spiritual application
to that is the deliverance of God's elect out of every tribe,
kindred, tongue, and nation, the calling of His people out
of the Jewish nation unto Christ in the latter days and the days
of the Messiah. And we talked about that. Look
at chapter 51. It speaks, it says, thus saith
the Lord, verse 1. The word of God, behold, I will
raise up against Babylon and against them that dwell in the
midst of them that rise up against me, a destroying wind, the wrath
of God represented here as a wind, a mighty wind reaping the whirlwind. Babylon was the most powerful
nation in the world at this time. It's the first great world empire. We read about Babylon. in Daniel
chapter two. Let me just, I'll just read this
to you. But what's interesting about
that, you remember when God visited King Nebuchadnezzar with a dream,
a vision, a vision of a great statue, and the head of the statue
was made of gold, and that represented Babylon. Then the shoulders and
the chest made of silver, that represented the Medes and the
Persians. It went right on down to the feet, which was Rome.
And in Daniel chapter 2 and verse 37, here's where Daniel comes
and interprets the dream for Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel was given
that interpretation by God. Daniel tells him, he said, this
interpretation that I'm going to give you, he says, it's not
due to any wisdom or intelligence or goodness in me. It's simply
the Lord showed me what this means. That's the way it is with
us, isn't it? When we come to understand the
gospel and understand the scriptures. It's not, it's not due to any
intelligence, goodness. I mean, we may be intelligent
people. I'm not saying we're, but that's not why, that's not
why we understand these scriptures. That's the gift of God. And don't
ever take that for granted. But in verse 37 of Daniel two,
it says thou O king are the king of kings. He's talking to Nebuchadnezzar
here. And he says, for the God of heaven
hath given thee a kingdom. God gave Nebuchadnezzar that
kingdom. And the God of heaven hath given
thee power and strength and glory, and wheresoever the children
of men dwell, the beast of the field and the fowls of the heaven
hath he given into thine hand and hath made thee ruler over
them all. Thou art this head of gold. That was Nebuchadnezzar. So one
thing we have to understand as we read these prophecies, as
we go through this history, is this is all God working all things
after the counsel of His own will. There are no accidents
here. Nothing taking God by surprise
here. Nothing takes God by surprise
at any time. And understand that. What's going
on? And now we see Babylon, as I
said, is not only a literal nation, but a symbol of the world in
opposition to God, the religious world, the economic world, whatever. In revelation 17 and verse five,
it speaks of mystery, Babylon, the great, the mother of harlots
and abominations of the earth. I was reading a commentator on,
on this and. The guy was trying to identify
Babylon, and he said, well, as far as I can tell, he said, Babylon
is just Babylon. It's not a symbol of anything.
Well, then why in Revelation 17 and verse 5 does he say mystery
Babylon? If it's that simple. What does
that mean, mystery Babylon? Well, he's talking about a Babylon
that you and I or any human being cannot recognize except God reveal
it. That's what he's talking about.
Now I can look on a map, and I can show you a country called
Iraq. And I can tell you that during
this time, that was what was called Babylon, especially southern
Iraq. You might have read stories about
the tyrant Saddam Hussein. and how he was trying to rebuild
the palaces of the great glory of Babylon of the past and Nebuchadnezzar
and all of that. I even read one story where Saddam
Hussein thought he was Nebuchadnezzar reincarnated. I don't know if
he thought that or not. But I can show you that, and
that's a very simple thing, Babylon is Babylon. But if you read Revelation,
read from Revelation 14 all the way up to chapter 19, that's
mystery Babylon. That's something that you don't
recognize and understand and know unless God tells you, unless
God reveals it. Look on, he says in verse 2,
I will send unto Babylon fanners, that's sweepers. That's the cleanup
crew. That's what he's talking about
there. After God does his work, it's going to be swept clean.
And that shall fan her, and shall empty her land. For in the day
of trouble, they shall be against her round about, against him
that bendeth, let the archer bend his bow, and against him
that lifted himself up in his brigandine. That's his armor. That's like a coat of chain mail
is what that is. Spare ye not her young men, destroy
ye utterly all her host, all of her army. Thus the slain shall
fall in the land of the Chaldeans and they that are thrust through
in her streets." God's judgment against Babylon. Now Babylon
conquered Israel, or conquered Judah rather. Israel had already
been conquered. And it looked as if Israel would
totally disappear. and Babylon will go on forever.
This is the way they saw it then. But God says Babylon would be
destroyed, but look at verse five. He says, for Israel hath
not been forsaken, nor Judah of his God. Now I entitled Sunday
night's message out of chapter 50, Babylon versus Jerusalem. We're gonna see the emblem of
Jerusalem just mentioned here, but the theme of it runs all
the way through. And that was part one. Well,
chapter 51 is Babylon versus Jerusalem, part two. Because
like I said, it's just one unit. But here's what he's saying here.
Israel, verse five, hath not been forsaken, nor Judah of his
God of the Lord of hosts. The Lord who cannot be defeated,
he has not forsaken Israel or Judah. He says, though their
land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel. In other
words, they're under punishment. They're under chastisement. Why?
Because they sinned against the Holy One of Israel. Who's the
Holy One of Israel? That's Christ. That's God in
Christ. That's what that whole old covenant
was about. And they rejected Christ. Remember, they wouldn't
rest in Christ. They wouldn't look to Christ.
They turned that old covenant into a legal system of works
for salvation. and they rejected Christ. And
so they were under the punishment of God, but Israel would survive. Now, why would they survive?
Well, because when they got over there in Babylon, they were all
going to turn around and put on a new face and turn around
a new leaf, what do they call it, you know, turn over a new
leaf and get right with God. No, because they didn't do that. If that was the case, they would
have been forsaken. That's what he's talking about.
If he's talking about here in verse 5, a conditional covenant
conditioned on the people of Judah before, during, or even
after Babylon. I want to tell you something,
they didn't meet the conditions. Read the Bible. They didn't do
it. They were still rebellious. I
know there was a short time of revival under Nehemiah and Zerubbabel,
but it didn't last long. And again, read those minor prophets
during that time of the return, how they continually told the
people how they were sinning against God, rebelling against
God. So why did God not forsake them? I'll tell you exactly why. Because
God had already made a covenant promise to a fellow named Abraham. A covenant promise of grace and
mercy. God is true and faithful to his
promise. Let God be true and every man
a liar. That's why God would not forsake
Israel. And that promise that he made
to Abraham would not be ultimately and finally fulfilled until something
happened. What was that something? The
Messiah comes into the world. Jesus Christ. in the last days. And that's when Israel would
return to the Lord. Look back over in chapter 50
again. Look at verse 19. We read these
verses back in chapter 50. Remember these? He said in verse
19, I will bring Israel again to his habitation and he shall
feed on caramel and bation. And his soul shall be satisfied
upon Mount Ephraim and Gilead. Those were all... You know, when
they returned from the Babylonian captivity, they came back to
Jerusalem. These are all cities in the northern kingdom. He's making a valid point here
now. And listen to what it says in verse 20. In those days and
in that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall
be sought for and there shall be none. Not going to be any. and the sins of Judah and they
shall not be found for I will pardon them whom I reserve. Those
are new covenant promises. When they return from the captivity,
even to Jerusalem, you cannot say that the iniquity of Judah
or Israel was sought for and not found. They were found. Again,
go back to the minor prophets. He's talking about the standing
of his elect among the Jews in Christ, washed in his blood. clothed in his righteousness.
That's the only way that any sinner can stand before God and
not be found with iniquity. As I stand in Christ, not having
my own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is
through the faith of Christ. As I stand before God, just like
we read in Revelation 18 there about the bride, his wife made
herself ready. Well, how do you make yourself
ready for the marriage supper of the Lamb? I'll tell you exactly
how. You look to Christ. You rest in Christ. You believe
in Christ. You don't bring your good works. And they stand in that white,
glistering wedding garment, which is the righteousness of saints.
Now, what is the righteousness of saints? It's the imputed righteousness
of Christ. It's not one they work out themselves,
it's one he worked out, that garment that he worked out. Read about it in Isaiah 61, I'll
tell you. God said in one of the Psalms,
I can't remember which one, he says, their righteousness is
of me, he said. It's not of them, it's of me.
And that's what he's talking about. And there would be a remnant
of the Jews and they would survive and turn to the Lord, not of
their own strength, or their own goodness, but of God's. Look
at chapter 50 again. Look over there at verse 33.
Remember we read this. Thus saith the Lord of hosts,
the children of Israel and the children of Judah were oppressed
together. All that took them captive held them fast. They
refused to let them go. But verse 34, their Redeemer
is strong. There's the issue. The issue
is not how strong you are or how strong I am when it comes
to salvation. The issue is how strong is your
redeemer? How strong is my redeemer? Now,
if he's this false Christ that's being preached today, who's trying
to save you, if you'll let him, he's not very strong at all.
In fact, he's no savior at all. He's no redeemer. And I love
the way this is put, the redeemer is strong. He bought and paid
for us with the price of his blood. And it says the Lord of
hosts is his name. He can't be defeated. He can't
fail. but he shall thoroughly plead
their cause. Christ our advocate, he pleads
our cause that he may give rest to the land, we rest in him and
disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon. That's Christ, our advocate pleading
the merits of his righteousness on our behalf. Now, back over
here in Jeremiah 51, You know, Israel hath not been
forsaken, nor Judah of his God. Now people argue today, is this
the whole nation Israel in the future? Or is it the spiritual
nation, which includes God's elect among the Jews? I'm sure
it's the spiritual nation, but does it include the whole nation
of Israel in the future? Well, Romans 11, I believe, settles
it. Paul wrote about that, and what
he called it was this. He said it's a remnant according
to the election of grace. A remnant is just a part, not
the whole. And you couple that with the
fact that all the way through the book of Romans, and you can
go to the book of Galatians and other books, well, book of Philippians,
and how does he identify Israel? He identifies them as the people
of God under the headship of Christ. That's how you, citizens
of a heavenly kingdom. So this is not a re, listen,
all Israel shall be saved. Whoever Israel is. Well, who's
going to be saved? Who are the children of the promise? The spiritual children of Abraham,
those who cling to Christ. That's what he's talking about.
This is not a re-institution of the old covenant. That's done. That's been done away with. It's
not by the works or the wills of men. If it were, none of us
would be saved. There'd be no Israel in any capacity,
if that's what it was. It's all of God's grace in Christ
Jesus. That's the bottom line. And it's
Israel under the headship of the Lord Jesus Christ. So he
says, look at verse six, he says, flee out of the midst of Babylon.
Remember over in Revelation 18, when he said, come out of her,
my people. That's what he's saying here.
Flee out of the midst of Babylon, get out of Babylon. You know,
when God saves us, he saves us out of Babylon, spiritual Babylon,
out of bondage, out of legalism, out of false works, free will
religion. And he says, flee out of the
midst of Babylon and deliver every man his soul. Your only
hope of salvation of your soul is to get out of Babylon and
get in Christ. Be not cut off in her iniquity.
If you stay with her, God said, I'll remember her sins. Remember
that He said that in Revelation 18? I'll remember her sins. What
does He say about the people of God in Christ? I'll remember
their sins no more. I'll remember their iniquity
no more. He won't charge us with sin. He can't. He charged them
in Christ. And he says, for this is the
time of the Lord's vengeance. This is when God's justice comes
on Babylon, and he will render unto her a recompense. She'll
get what she deserves. Now, what is our prayer? Lord,
don't give us what we deserve. Don't give us what we earn. Give
us Christ. You see that? So don't be tied
to Babylon. Come out of Babylon. That's a
call to faith in Christ and repentance. of dead works. It's prophetic
of the spiritual battle between Babylon, the world system in
opposition to God, and heavenly Jerusalem, the abode of the redeemed,
God's elect out of every nation, Jew and Gentile. You know, in the last part of
chapter 50, I didn't read all of that. You can read it, but
it talks about the sword of God's judgment. A sword is upon the
Chaldeans. That sword of judgment. You know
our only hope of salvation from that sword of God's wrath is
if that wrath strikes somebody else unto death in our stead. And that's what happened to Christ
on that cross. The sword of God's wrath that
we deserve and we earn fell on Him. And He died. And He brought
forth everlasting righteousness. And all who see Babylon's fall,
who are in the Lord, all who are in the Lord who see his fall,
will rejoice at the fall of Babylon. All who are tied to Babylon,
they will lament, because it's a sorrow for them. Look at verse
7 of Jeremiah 51. He says, Babylon hath been a
golden cup in the Lord's hand, and made all the earth drunken.
Babylon was an instrument of God to perform His task. And the nations have drunken
of her wine, therefore the nations are mad. They are insane. Remember in Revelation 18, it
talks about all the kings of the earth and all the merchants
have drunk of her wine, the wine of her wrath. Babylon is suddenly
fallen and destroyed. How for her? Take balm for her
pain. She, that be she may be healed.
They'll try to heal her. That's what he's saying here.
They'll try to heal her, but she can't be healed. There's no healing
without the great physician, without Christ. Verse nine, we
would have healed Babylon, but she's not healed. They're trying,
but she's not healed. forsake her, and let us go, every
one, into his own country. For her judgment reacheth unto
heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies. But look at verse
10 now. He says, The Lord hath brought forth our righteousness. Come and let us declare in Zion
the work of the Lord our God. What is that righteousness he's
speaking of? Well, that's justice. What they're saying is that when
Babylon falls, God is setting everything right. God is taking
vengeance, justice is being carried out. And they say, let's tell
it back in Zion, that's a picture of the church. And let's declare
the work of the Lord. This is not our work, this is
God's work. Now this is, I believe this is prophetic and typical
of the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace in and by the
Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Lord our righteousness. You remember,
by the imputation of our sins to Christ and the imputation
of His righteousness to us, you know what God's doing there?
He's setting everything right. Everything in order. Justice
is done. Justice is satisfied. God is
honored in every attribute of His nature. The enemies of the
Lord are justly destroyed and the redeemed of the Lord are
taken into His fellowship eternally. God said everything right. And
at the cross of Christ, He fulfilled all and He paid for all the sins
of His people. That's justice coming down. And
therefore, we look to Christ as the Lord, our righteousness. Well, He brings vengeance upon
them. Verse 11, Make bright the arrows,
gather the shields. The Lord hath raised up the spirit
of the kings of the Medes. There's the Medes and the Persians.
He says, for his devices against Babylon to destroy it because
it's the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance of his temple.
The temple represents the glory of the Lord. And that's the issue. God's glory in Christ. That's
what it's all about. That's the standard. Whatever
salvation we claim, if it doesn't glorify God in the person and
finished work of Christ, it's no good. It's evil, in fact. It's idolatry. So it's all come
down to that temple, which represents how God justifies a sinner through
Christ. That's what it's all how a sinner
approaches God. It's either upon his works or
in the blood of the land, which one honors God. And so he tells
them, he says, I've sworn by myself. Look at verse 15. He
says, he hath made the earth by his power. He hath established
the world by his wisdom and hath stretched out the heavens by
his understanding. Now God's powerful. When he othereth
his voice, there's a multitude of waters in the heavens. He
calleth the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth. And
he maketh lightnings with rain and bringeth forth the wind out
of his treasures. You see, these verses here, they're
repeated from Jeremiah chapter 10. And what he's simply asking
here, it's kind of like, is God able to do all this? Well, he
set the worlds in order. He created this world. He controls
the thunder and the lightnings. He controls the wind. In verse
17, he tells us man can't do it. Every man is brutish by his
knowledge. And he has no discernment, no
wisdom. Every founder is confounded by
the graven image. He can make a god, but that god's
an idol. His molten image is falsehood. There's no breath
in him. They're vanity, the work of errors. In the time of their
visitation, they shall perish. But look at verse 19. Now here's
the grace of God again. You see, Jeremiah wasn't just
a prophet of doom. There's hope, and here it is.
The portion of Jacob is not like them. Now this was stated back
in Jeremiah 10 also. Who is the portion of Jacob?
That's the God of grace. That's the God who justifies
the ungodly in Christ. That's the God of promise. That's
the God who is able. That's the covenant God. And
He's not like those idols. He's the portion of Jacob. He
said, I'm the Lord, I change not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob
are not consumed. He's the portion of Jacob. Isn't
that something? And He's the former of all things.
He started it all. That's what that means. He's
the origin of it all. He's the first cause. And Israel
is the rod of his inheritance. In other words, Israel is the
tribe, literally, or family of God's inheritance. He gave them
to his son, and the Lord of hosts is his name. And so he speaks
now of how he will bring judgment upon Babylon by his chosen instruments
of war. He says in verse 20, thou art
my battle axe and weapons of war. I believe he's speaking
of the Medes and the Persians there who are going to come down
on Babylon later on. But look down at verse 24. He
says, I will render unto Babylon and to all the inhabitants of
the Chaldeans all their evil that they have done in Zion in
your sight, saith the Lord. Have you ever noticed how it
all relates to Zion? Again, that's like the temple.
Zion is the church. That's where the Shekinah glory
of God is revealed and honored and magnified in the salvation
of sinners by His free and sovereign grace in and by the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's the Shekinah. It's not
in an earthly temple. It's in His church. beginning there and he said beginning
there verse 27 and On down really to the end of this chapter. It's
a long chapter I'm not I'm certainly I'm gonna try to go through every
verse you can read because a lot of its repetition But from verse
27 all the way down to the end of the chapter, what does he
do? He declares victory. This is God's declaration of
victory He says in verse 27 set you up a standard in the land
blow the trumpet among the nations prepare the nations against her
That's God's declaration of victory. Jerusalem will win the battle.
That's what he's saying. Look at verse 29. He says, the
land shall tremble and sorrow for every purpose of the Lord
shall be performed against Babylon. Every purpose of the Lord. None can stay his hand or say
unto him, what doest thou? And he goes on to describe this.
He's gonna bring vengeance upon the king of Babylon. He mentions
Nebuchadnezzar by name. But you see, this is victory.
And it's victory, it's prophetic of the victory that God's people
have in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. It's like Christ told
his disciples in John 16 and verse 33, he said, he said, these
things have I spoken unto you that in me you might have peace.
In the world you'll have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I've overcome
the world. He didn't say to his disciples,
now if you're good enough and you pray hard enough and you
believe hard enough, you can overcome this. No, he said, be
of good cheer. I have overcome the world. Christ has overcome
our sin. Christ has overcome the world,
overcome Babylon. Christ will overcome the flesh.
He'll have victory over it all. He says in verse 36, look here,
he says, therefore, thus saith the Lord, behold, I will plead
thy cause and take vengeance for thee. And I will dry up her
sea, that is Babylon, and make her springs dry. That's how the
Medes and the Persians defeated Babylon. Look down at verse 45. He says in verse 45, my people,
go you out of the midst of her. This is spoken to the captives.
He says, get out of Babylon. That's what he's saying. Flee
for your lives. Go ye out of the midst of her
and deliver you every man his soul from the fierce anger of
the Lord. You're not gonna find any peace, any salvation, any
rest in Babylon. That's only to be found in Christ.
And that's it. And look at verse 50. He says,
you that have escaped the sword, go away, stand not still. Remember
the Lord of far off and let Jerusalem come into your mind. I believe
another way of saying that, let Jerusalem come into your mind,
is when the Apostle Paul wrote in Colossians chapter 3 when
he says, set your affection on things above and not on things
of the earth. Set your affection on things
above where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. Not on
Babylon, not on the flesh, not on the things of this world.
Let Jerusalem come into your mind. They were to think about
their home. They were to think about the
glory of God in that place. And that's prophetic. That's
a type of our hope that's not in this earth, but in Christ,
the King of Kings. Look at verse 54. He says, a
sound of a cry cometh from Babylon and great destruction from the
land of the Chaldeans. because the Lord has spoiled
Babylon. You see that? He's the spoiler of Babylon.
He says in verse 57, and I will make her drunk, make drunk her
princes, her wise men, her captains, her rulers, her mighty men. They shall sleep a perpetual
sleep and not wake, saith the king, whose name is the Lord
of hosts. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the broad walls of
Babylon shall be utterly broken. and her high gate shall be burned
with fire, and listen to this, and the people shall labor in
vain, and the folk in the fire, and they shall be weary. What
a description of false religion, laboring in vain, laboring in
vain. Well, from here to the end of
the chapter, it speaks of the sinking of Babylon. Babylon's
going to sink. And he tells Jeremiah to tell
him, send him this book, Read it before them, and he tells
them in verse 63, and it shall be when thou hast made an end
of the reading of this book, this prophecy, that thou shalt
bind a stone to it and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates.
Put it, throw it in the river. It's going to sink. There's a
type. There's an object lesson. Babylon's
going to sink. And thou shalt say, thus shall
Babylon sink and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring
upon her, and they shall be weary. Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.
The book of Revelation sets forth the sinking of Babylon and the
rising of Jerusalem. We've seen that. In Revelation 17, 14, it tells
us why all that comes about. You see, the rising of Jerusalem
is connected with the victory of the Lamb. Revelation 17 14. He says these shall make war
with the lamb. That's Babylon. That's the enemies of Christ
and the Lamb shall overcome them For he is Lord of lords and king
of kings and they that are with him are called the chosen and
the faithful Babylon is fallen Jerusalem has risen. All right