Tag Archives: The Nations

Day 202: All Nations are Guilty

Jeremiah 50:41-46

“Behold, a people comes from the north.
A great nation and many kings will be stirred up from the uttermost parts of the earth.
They take up bow and spear.
They are cruel, and have no mercy.
Their voice roars like the sea.
They ride on horses,
everyone set in array,
as a man to the battle,
against you, daughter of Babylon.
The king of Babylon has heard the news of them,
and his hands become feeble.
Anguish has taken hold of him,
pains as of a woman in labor.
Behold, the enemy will come up like a lion
from the thickets of the Jordan against the strong habitation;
for I will suddenly make them run away from it.
Whoever is chosen,
I will appoint him over it,
for who is like me?
Who will appoint me a time?
Who is the shepherd who can stand before me?”
Therefore hear the counsel of Yahweh
that he has taken against Babylon;
and his purposes
that he has purposed against the land of the Chaldeans:
Surely they will drag them away,
even the little ones of the flock.
Surely he will make their habitation desolate over them.
The earth trembles at the noise of the taking of Babylon.
The cry is heard among the nations.

As we read earlier, there were those who thought that Jeremiah was helping Babylon’s cause by discouraging the people with his words. It’s pretty clear that Jeremiah was simply speaking God’s words because God also had quite a few things to say against Babylon. I think that Jeremiah had something bad to say about all of the countries in the area. There’s a lesson for us even in these things.

Just because someone says something that sounds discouraging, doesn’t mean that it isn’t right. It’s easy for us to make the assumption that we are doing fine, when actually we have been sinning. It is discouraging to hear that we have been sinning, but it is very arrogant for us to pretend that we haven’t. When God warns us of the consequences of our sin, the most positive thing that we can do is repent. Attacking the messenger just makes our sin bigger.

The fact that Jeremiah had something bad to say about everyone, reminds us of another basic Gospel truth. One of the important purposes of God’s word, is to expose our sin. If our sin isn’t exposed, we can’t see that we are sinners that need saving. God’s word through Jeremiah informed all of the nations in the area that they were all guilty before God, including Israel. The fact that all have sinned, is foundational to the Gospel. Let’s look at what God told us through Paul:

Romans 3:23

for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God;

No nation is good enough to stand before God and that’s because no individual is good enough either, except for one. Jesus is the one who was good enough to stand before God and He spent His life in order to save us from the consequences of ours. Just as Jesus saves us individually, He will also be saving the nations of the world someday too because He is the only one who can stand before God without being judged by His word.

Day 127: The Full End is Coming

Jeremiah 30:4-11

These are the words that Yahweh spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah. For Yahweh says:
“We have heard a voice of trembling;
a voice of fear, and not of peace.
Ask now, and see whether a man travails with child.
Why do I see every man with his hands on his waist, as a woman in travail,
and all faces are turned pale?
Alas, for that day is great, so that none is like it!
It is even the time of Jacob’s trouble;
but he will be saved out of it.
It will come to pass in that day, says Yahweh of Armies, that I will break his yoke from off your neck,
and will burst your bonds.
Strangers will no more make them their bondservants;
but they will serve Yahweh their God,
and David their king,
whom I will raise up to them.
Therefore don’t be afraid, O Jacob my servant, says Yahweh.
Don’t be dismayed, Israel.
For, behold, I will save you from afar,
and save your offspring from the land of their captivity.
Jacob will return,
and will be quiet and at ease.
No one will make him afraid.
For I am with you, says Yahweh, to save you;
for I will make a full end of all the nations where I have scattered you,
but I will not make a full end of you;
but I will correct you in measure,
and will in no way leave you unpunished.”

In this section, God makes it clear who He is going to permanently reject and it won’t be Israel. This is one of the most alarming things about those who claim to be Christians and teach that God is finished with Israel. God says the opposite, that those who say things like that are the ones He intends to destroy. Here it says: “I will make a full end of all the nations where I have scattered you.” Concerning Israel, God says: “but I will not make a full end of you.”

Does this mean that Israel is going to get away with their sin? Not at all! This future time is called: “the time of Jacob’s trouble.” It’s just that “he will be saved out of it” and his enemies will not be. They will be completely destroyed and there won’t be anyone left to “make him afraid.” It’s pretty obvious that this final end has not come yet, but it should scare us. Everything that the Bible has predicted has happened up to this point. This end is coming and people have a responsiblity to be ready.

Christians should not be acting as if they are better than the Jews. Here we see that those who do will be destroyed. This is not just “an Old Testament thing.” It’s amplified in the New Testament. This is what is written in the book of Romans:

Romans 11:16-21

If the first fruit is holy, so is the lump. If the root is holy, so are the branches. But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the root and of the richness of the olive tree, don’t boast over the branches. But if you boast, remember that it is not you who support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, “Branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in.” True; by their unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by your faith. Don’t be conceited, but fear; for if God didn’t spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.

Day 79: God’s People and God’s Land

Jeremiah 16:14-21

“Therefore behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “that it will no more be said, ‘As Yahweh lives, who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;’ but, ‘As Yahweh lives, who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the countries where he had driven them.’ I will bring them again into their land that I gave to their fathers.

“Behold, I will send for many fishermen,” says Yahweh, “and they will fish them up. Afterward I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them from every mountain, from every hill, and out of the clefts of the rocks. For my eyes are on all their ways. They are not hidden from my face. Their iniquity isn’t concealed from my eyes. First I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double, because they have polluted my land with the carcasses of their detestable things, and have filled my inheritance with their abominations.”

Yahweh, my strength, and my stronghold,
and my refuge in the day of affliction,
the nations will come to you from the ends of the earth,
and will say,
“Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies,
vanity and things in which there is no profit.
Should a man make to himself gods
which yet are no gods?”

“Therefore behold, I will cause them to know,
this once I will cause them to know my hand and my might.
Then they will know that my name is Yahweh.”

As we have seen in other warnings against the Israel, God tells Jeremiah that someday in the future, God will gather Israel back into their land. We know that this happened after the Babylonian captivity because we read about it in Ezra and Nehemiah, but was this really what is being predicted here?

Remember that the return to Israel and Jerusalem back in Nehemiah’s time was only a partial return. Not all of the people were there. In fact, there were many who were still living in Babylon. This passage says that a time is coming when they will come from all over and return. It mentions fishermen who will “fish them up.” In other words, there will be those who purposefully seek out the Jews to bring them back to their land from all over the world. There isn’t any evidence that this happened in Ezra’s time.

If we fast-forward to today, I think we have the same problem. There are many Jews that have gone back to Israel recently from all over the world and I understand that this time there are officials in Israel that are trying to find them around the world, but is this the fulfillment of this prophesy? I don’t think so.

There are still many Jews that are spread out across the world. What we see today may be a shadow of what is to come, but, as in the days of Ezra, I don’t think it is complete. Notice that the last part of this passage mentions the comments of “nations” that come to God. I believe that this is the critical missing piece of the prophesy. God expects the nations of the earth to promote Israel in that day and I believe that the Bible is teaching us that they will be involved in finding the Jews and putting them back in Israel. At that point, I believe it will be known across the world, that the Jewish people were brought out of all the nations by God just as they were brought out from Egypt in the past. The whole earth is to go through great trouble and plagues just like Egypt and after that is over, all will agree that the Jews and their land belong to God alone.

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