“We are confounded, because we have heard reproach: shame hath covered our faces: for strangers are come into the sanctuaries of the LORD'S house.” (Jeremiah 51:51)
Jeremiah is prophesying the destruction of Babylon for what they have done (Jeremiah 51:1-4) and the return of the people to Jerusalem by telling them to flee Babylon and the coming destruction because of its sin. “Flee out of the midst of Babylon and deliver every man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity; for this is the time of the LORD'S vengeance; he will render unto her a recompence.” (Jeremiah 51:6)
The captives are ready to go home, but they haven’t heard good news. When they were taken captive, the enemies had gone in, had destroyed and had pilfered the temple. They felt disgraced, dishonored and degraded before God and before each other. They felt the truth of how they looked to the enemy. Their freedom was not a joyous occasion. But Jeremiah prophesies against Babylon, “Wherefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will do judgment upon her graven images: and through all her land the wounded shall groan.” (Jeremiah 51:52) And Seraiah emissary to King Zedekiah the king of Judah, who was also captive, was to bind up the prophecy and throw it in the Euphrates River after Zedekiah had read it.
This chapter has a few lessons for us. Although we may be in hard straits that have brought us shame, even if it was the result of something completely out of our hands, the Lord God will bring us out and avenge us. But we must be willing to come out from under anything that has us captive and separated from the Lord. Even if all the standards of holiness have been broken and destroyed, the Lord calls us out of captivity to the brokenness and ruin of our captivity. And through the shame and waste that is present in our freedom, the Lord will show His might in our behalf.
Jeremiah prophesied the return of the captives. “Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto Thee; for Thou art the LORD our God. Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains: truly in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel. For shame hath devoured the labour of our fathers from our youth; their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covereth us: for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.” (Jeremiah 3:22-25) Our prayer should be for the Lord to open our eyes of understanding that we may see our sin as God sees it so we can repent of it. When we take that step toward the Lord, He restores. “For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.” (Jeremiah 4:3-4) This plea of the Lord tells us of the harshness of our sin and the necessary and merciless removal of it to avoid the consequences of our separation from the goodness of God.
We are blessed that we live in the dispensation of mercy and grace. The Lord is longsuffering and patient for sinners to repent. “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” (2Peter 3:9) He desires for all to repent and to turn to Him. “For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” (1Timothy 2:3-4)
Even though the captives were slaves and in the service of the Babylonians, in the seventy years they were captive, they got accustomed to slavery. It’s normal for the harshest conditions to become acceptable after a while. The same happens with our condition in sin. Although we are suffering spiritually, mentally and emotionally because of our participation in sin, that condition becomes normal. The struggles and anxieties without God become normal. Our blindness has led to bad decisions upon bad decisions. This is life we tell ourselves. But it’s not life in Jesus. This is not to say that when we are in the Lord things don’t come against us. They may come, but the Lord helps us out of all our troubles. “For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.” (Proverbs 24:16) It's by coming out of anything associated with our sin and in turning to the Lord that we will find our freedom from sin and deliverance in the Lord.
Comments