The Restoration of
Israel
Book of Jeremiah 50,
51
As we have studied
the Book of Jeremiah we have also seen that Mystery Babylon
represents the enemies of God.
Rev 17:5 And upon
her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE
MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
Babylon represents
the worship of Baal in many cases called Baalim which can be said to
be the false trinity of the Anti-Christ.
We know that Paul
called the Church a mystery because the Church was not known to the
Old Testament Patriarchs or the Prophets.
Using this as our
example, Mystery Babylon represents all false religions, because only
a few of them realize they are worshiping the Anti-Christ!
Christ has the
Church as His bride, so the Anti-Christ has Babylon the Great as his
bride, who are the followers of all false religion.
Babylon had its
beginning in the days of Noah who lived 350 years after the flood.
Gen 11:4 And they
said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach
unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad
upon the face of the whole earth.
Gen 11:5 And the
LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of
men builded.
Gen 11:9 Therefore
is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound
the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter
them abroad upon the face of all the earth.
This is the same
place where God called Abraham out of the city of Ur which was in the
land of the Chaldees.
God said:
2Co 6:17 Wherefore
come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and
touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
2Co 6:18 And will
be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith
the Lord Almighty.
So let’s see the
words God has given to Jeremiah:
*****Jer 50:1 The
word that the LORD spake against Babylon and against the land of the
Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet.
Jer 50:2 Declare ye
among the nations, and publish, and set up a standard; publish, and
conceal not: say, Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is
broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her images are broken in
pieces.
Jer 50:3 For out of
the north there cometh up a nation against her, which shall make her
land desolate, and none shall dwell therein: they shall remove, they
shall depart, both man and beast.
Jer 50:4 In those
days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the children of Israel shall
come, they and the children of Judah together, going and weeping:
they shall go, and seek the LORD their God.
Not many know the
joy of leaving a place where they were not really welcome and going
back home.
Most military men
and women know something about this.
I was truly glad to
get back home from the war in Vietnam!
These Jews would be
in captivity for 70 years and they did not know what they were going
back to because their land had been destroyed but they had learned a
very valuable lesson.
They had learned
that there is no power in idols nor can anything good come from idol
worship. They were going home to seek the Lord their God.
Cyrus and his army
would defeat historical Babylon and just as Jeremiah had said by God
Himself, Cyrus and Darius who followed him, would allow the Jews to
go home.
These Jews would
realize that only by the Mercy of God would they be freed from
captivity and they would see the truth of the Scriptures in their own
life time.
They would weep for
their sins and for answered prayer.
The overthrow of
Babylon would be the signal they would go home to the land they had
left because of sin, just as Jeremiah had prophesied.
Isa 45:19 I have
not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth: I said not unto
the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain: I the LORD speak
righteousness, I declare things that are right.
Isa 45:20 Assemble
yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that are escaped of the
nations: they have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven
image, and pray unto a god that cannot save.
Isa 45:21 Tell ye,
and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath
declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time?
have not I the LORD? and there is no God else beside me; a just God
and a Saviour; there is none beside me.
They did say "show
me the way to Zion".
This has been a
battle cry of the Jews ever since.
*****Jer 50:5 They
shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, saying, Come,
and let us join ourselves to the LORD in a perpetual covenant that
shall not be forgotten.
Zion to these Jews
meant Jerusalem. The Jews have always known that Jerusalem was the
city that Jehovah God established as belonging to Him, not some false
god and certainly not "Allah" whoever that name represents.
The followers of the crescent moon.
God set these people
free because they had repented of their sins and returned to worship
Him.
God set these people
free, so they could return to the Promised Land.
God set these people
free, so they could recommit themselves to the everlasting covenant
in which a commitment was made to obey all the Word of God.
Some say it was in
these days that the Pharisees began to form, before they too became
evil in their ways.
Others say this is
the time that Judaism took hold of the children of Israel.
It would be the
vengeance of the Lord on "Historical Babylon" that would
cause these things to happen.
It will be the
vengeance of the Lord on "Spiritual Babylon" that will
remove this evil from God's people in the near future!
Isa 35:8 And an
highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of
holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for
those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.
Mic 4:1 But in the
last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of
the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it
shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.
Mic 4:2 And many
nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain
of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach
us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go
forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
They had been lost
sheep who could not find their way home without the True Shepherd.
*****Jer 50:6 My
people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go
astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone
from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their restingplace.
It had been their
own government and false prophets that had caused these things to
happen by commands, but also by example. They had gone from one idol
to another until they were confused about the truth of God.
They had turned away
from the mountain of God and had been led to barren and dangerous
regions where they got lost!
Eze 34:15 I will
feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord GOD.
Eze 34:16 I will
seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away,
and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that
which was sick: but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will
feed them with judgment.
We had better
understand that even when we have been led astray by false teachers
or a corrupt government, we are still responsible for our own
salvation.
We are to study the
Word of God ourselves, so we will know the truth!
This Scripture
proves that these Jews had gone from one idol to another and had
offered sacrifices and had seen no results from these false gods. It
also proves that they were seeking another God that simply did not
exist because there is only One True God and His name is Jehovah!
In reality, nothing
in Babylon could compare to the land of Judah when they were in the
favor of the Lord!
In fact there is
nothing on the face of this earth that will compare to the land of
Israel when the Lord sits on the throne of David!
We should be able
see this in our own lives. Our lives when we were out in sin cannot
compare to our lives now in the will of God!
It would be like
comparing a barren place to a fertile green valley.
Jesus said, you must
be born again to see the Kingdom of God!
*****Jer 50:7 All
that found them have devoured them: and their adversaries said, We
offend not, because they have sinned against the LORD, the habitation
of justice, even the LORD, the hope of their fathers.
When our enemy
realizes he cannot stop our salvation then he will try his best to
ruin our testimony!
It was certainly the
Lord who was punishing these Jews for leaving their first love, but
the enemy "made matters worse" by inflicting their own
means of punishment.
Even today in many
places where the Jews reside, even in America, they are still exposed
to the attacks of those who hate them.
Even some who say
they are Jews go against the nation of Israel.
What a foolish
nation we will become if allow our leaders to go against the nation
of Israel!
That word race is
used a lot here in America but not when the Christian is attacked and
not when the Jews are attacked.
The fact remains
that the Lord will deliver His people. He will fulfill all the
promises made to the true Jews, but He will also fulfill every
promise to the Church which is next on His agenda!
Dan 9:16 O Lord,
according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine anger
and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy
mountain: because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our
fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to all that
are about us.
Dan 9:17 Now
therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant, and his
supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is
desolate, for the Lord's sake.
God would set these
Jews free, so they could seek Him in their own homeland and repent of
their sins.
God would set His
people free to fulfill the everlasting covenant that been made to
Abraham and King David.
These are some of
the reasons God would make Babylon an everlasting desolation.
*****Jer 51:1 Thus
saith the LORD; 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;
Jer 51:2 And will
send unto Babylon fanners, that shall fan her, and shall empty her
land: for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round
about.
As Christians who
study the Scriptures, we can look back in history and see the
fulfillment of all these things.
God did stir up the
spirit of the destroyer against Babylon and its people.
We know that the
wind is one of the most powerful natural sources upon this earth. The
hurricanes, the tornadoes can devastate any region at any time.
We also know that
God uses the human in most cases and He would stir up the spirit of
the Persians to be that destroying wind.
The king of Babylon
had taken the people from many nations and they would also rise up at
the same time.
Again the Lord would
prove to be the Redeemer of the children of Israel.
He will prove this
again in the future! We know that the Jews are still a scattered
people with almost as many in America as is in Israel.
What is the truth of
the destruction of Babylon?
Under Nabonnadus,
the last king, B.C. 538, Babylon was taken by Cyrus, after a siege of
two years.
In the dead of the
night. Having first, by means of its canals, turned the river into
the great dry lake west of Babylon, and then marched through the
emptied channel, he made his way to the outer walls of the fortified
palace on its banks.
He found that the
brazen gates had been left open by the royal guards while they were
engaged in drunken parties, just like their king, not worried about
any enemy breaching the walls of Babylon.
Babylon as an empire
ceased to exist.
The walls that were
not destroyed by Cyrus were later destroyed by Darius.
Later Xerxes the son
of Darius, plundered and destroyed Babylon and left Babylon the
wilderness that it is today a place uninhabitable
Why did these things
happen?
*****Jer 51:5 For
Israel hath not been forsaken, nor Judah of his God, of the LORD of
hosts; though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of
Israel.
Jer 51:6 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 recompense.
God will never
utterly forsake His people!
A great man of God
wrote: "Even if Jesus Christ could create better believers than
He has now, He would never consider doing such a thing".
If that had been the
case, then He would have solved the sin problem when He flooded this
world.
There were 8 sinners
of the bloodline of Adam that were saved in the ark simply because
Noah had found "Grace" in the eyes of the Lord.
The Lord is seeking
others He can show His "Grace" to, but this cannot happen
unless we believe in and on Him!
To be our Savior the
Lord had to first be our Redeemer!
Once we establish a
personal relationship with the Lord, we are forever His children and
we cannot be forsaken!
As Christians we
foolishly do things sometimes that are not pleasing to the Lord, but
He promises to not ever forsake us.
We must accept the
consequences for the things that we do, but our Father in Heaven will
always be our Father!
When God calls us to
come out from this world, He certainly means it!
*****Jer 51:20 Thou
art my battle axe and weapons of war: for with thee will I break in
pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms;
Then comes Cyrus.
Isa 45:1 Thus saith
the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden,
to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to
open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be
shut;
Isa 45:2 I will go
before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in
pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron:
Isa 45:3 And I will
give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret
places, that thou mayest know that I, the LORD, which call thee by
thy name, am the God of Israel.
It is obvious that
the Lord is about to use Cyrus just as He had used Nebuchadnezzar.
No matter what else
they did, God had made it a priority for them to take great care of
God's people, these Jews.
God called Cyrus and
his army to capture all the other nations that provided their
resources to Babylon.
We continue time
after time to see that God will use some human to carry out His
vengeance.
In the end it will
be the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember Jesus ascended in His glorified
body and not as some spirit.
We can also see that
this prophecy extends on into the future.
We know that the 70
years were up, but this is no proof that these Jews had been forgiven
but we do know that once they returned to Israel, they no longer
worshipped idols.
I believe that these
things refer to the coming of the Lord.
We should also
remember that Babylon had destroyed the Temple of Solomon and the
city of Jerusalem.
These Jews are still
in reserve throughout our days so far and there’s coming the day
that they will be saved.
There is still only
one way for these Jews to be saved and this is by the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ.
They must accept the
one that they have rejected all these years and they must do this as
a nation.
Pardon means all the
sins of the Jews have been forgotten.
When we are thinking
right, we can see this prophecy extends to the Lord Jesus Christ when
He returns to cleanse this world of sin.
Dan 2:44 And in the
days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which
shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other
people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms,
and it shall stand for ever.
Dan 2:45 Forasmuch
as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without
hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the
silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what
shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the
interpretation thereof sure.
With Rome being the
kingdom of iron, Jesus Christ was born in the reign of Augustus
Caesar. The Kingdom of God cannot be destroyed!
The foundation of
the Kingdom of Jesus Christ will be built on a new spiritual and
heavenly power that comes into this world for a time when the Lord
returns to cause the end of the age of the Gentiles which really
began with Adam and Eve.
As we go through
these Scriptures let's just think of the return of Christ to set up
His Kingdom for 1000 years.
*****Jer 51:21 And
with thee will I break in pieces the horse and his rider; and with
thee will I break in pieces the chariot and his rider;
Jer 51:22 With thee
also will I break in pieces man and woman; and with thee will I break
in pieces old and young; and with thee will I break in pieces the
young man and the maid;
Jer 51:23 I will
also break in pieces with thee the shepherd and his flock; and with
thee will I break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen; and
with thee will I break in pieces captains and rulers.
Jer 51:24 And I
will render unto Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all
their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight, saith the LORD.
Rev 17:5 And upon
her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE
MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
Rev 17:18 And the
woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the
kings of the earth.
Rev 18:21 And a
mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into
the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be
thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.
Rev 18:24 And in
her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that
were slain upon the earth.
It’s debatable if
the Saints of God will actually see the destruction of the Babylon of
Sin but we can be sure it will take place when the Lord returns.
The Lord will speak
with the Sword of His mouth and destruction will follow.
Psa 91:7 A thousand
shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it
shall not come nigh thee.
Psa 91:8 Only with
thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.
Cyrus did indeed
conquer Babylon of old and the city was soon destroyed and has never
been rebuilt in the location it once stood.
Jer 51:25 Behold, I
am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the LORD, which
destroyest all the earth: and I will stretch out mine hand upon thee,
and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt
mountain.
Jer 51:26 And they
shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for
foundations; but thou shalt be desolate for ever, saith the LORD.
No empire in the
future will ever have Babylon as it's center!
It will be the
"Spirit of Babylon that will be destroyed when the Lord returns,
and Israel will be restored and Jerusalem the capitol city of this
world!
Amen
Let's pray!
