Jeremiah 50:1 The word that the LORD spake against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet
Many have graduated in the last several months from high school, college, or some other major event in life, and I’ve been to a wedding or two in the last several months. These are all joyous occasions, but something that occurred to me this morning is that you will always be a freshman. By that I mean, you graduate from high school and you are a freshman in college or you are the junior partner in your next job. Then you get married and you are the youngest couple in your community. That is the way life is, you are at the top, where you think you have finally arrived, then you realize you are back at the bottom all over again. If you live to be ninety-five and you run everything in your sphere of influence, the time will come when they will put you out to pasture. The point is that there is always someone bigger.
In Jeremiah 49, God pronounces judgment against the Ammonites, the Edomites, and several other nations. There are the descendants of Lot, Esau, and a number of others. God judged their rebellion through Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar, of course, surpassed the Assyrian empire. They were a brutal and powerful empire, yet they became nothing when Nebuchadnezzar came on the world scene.
Jeremiah 50:1 begins by saying, “The word that the LORD spake against Babylon.” Just as He had spoken against these smaller, much lesser nations, now He is bringing judgment upon Babylon, the tool of judgment itself. He says, “Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces. For out of the north there cometh up a nation against her.” He is talking about the Persians. So, there is always someone bigger. You may have graduated, be married, or be the oldest person in the company, but you will always be a freshman. There is always someone who is bigger.
Babylon reached incredible power, yet they were replaced by the Persians who were later replaced by the Greeks and so on. That has been the history of humanity. The thing to note is that God is bigger still. In Jeremiah 50:18 it says, “Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts.” This is the God of battle, the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel whom Babylon had oppressed. It continues, “Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria.” God judged Sodom, Gomorrah, Assyria, and Babylon, and God humbles the proud.
Three times in the book of Jeremiah Nebuchadnezzar is called by God “my servant.” In this chapter God says in verse 23, “How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken!” Nebuchadnezzar was nothing but a tool in God’s hand. God had said the same thing about Assyria, “Shall an axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith?” The answer is no. That would be crazy!
So, as powerful and Assyria and Babylon were or as powerful as anyone you know may be, God is bigger still and God humbles the proud. God gives grace to the humble. In verse 31 God says, “Behold, I am against thee, O thou most proud…And the most proud shall stumble and fall.” God humbles the proud. He did with all the world powers and He will with any person who does not realize that they will always be a freshman, that there will always be someone greater.
A wise person will cultivate an awareness of their own limitations and of God’s power. Friend, if you have never thought about your own mortality, then you are not thinking. I’m not suggesting that you wake up every day and think about death. As inevitable as that may be, that is not the point. The point is the bookends of your power, whether it be your youth, your strength, your brilliance, your money, or your talent. They are all stewardships that come and will eventually go. Babylon had a place on the world stage, then Babylon left. God remained constant throughout this time and God remains constant still. God has all power.
Verse 34 says, “Their Redeemer is strong; the LORD of hosts is his name: he shall thoroughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the land, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.” Earlier He had said, “I will pardon them whom I reserve.” God is greater. No matter how much power you have, there is always someone that is stronger and no matter who that is, God is stronger still. So, cultivate an awareness of your own limitations and cultivate an awareness of God’s grace in your life and in the lives of those who seek Him.