Daily Readings & Thought for August 29th. “THUS SHALL BABYLON SINK”
We have nearly completed the book of Jeremiah. Today’s 51st chapter of 64 verses is quite remarkable, a really challenging read. It is all about Babylon and God’s judgments on her, that mighty city and the country of the same name. She had destroyed Jerusalem and God’s great Temple and taken all its treasures. She is led by a king who, up to this time, had been all conquering. The book of Daniel fills out the details – leading to her climactic collapse.
Here in Jeremiah we have the Lord’s prophecies of that collapse – and we are told, “Jeremiah wrote in a book all the disaster that should come upon Babylon” [v.60] Seraiah is commissioned by Jeremiah, “When you come to Babylon , see that you read all these words, and say, ‘O LORD, you have said concerning this place that you will cut it off, so that nothing shall dwell in it, neither man nor beast, and it shall be desolate forever…. Thus shall Babylon sink, to rise no more …” [v.62-64]”
This is still the case today, some years ago Saddam Hussein sought to restore some part of the ruins of Babylon and ‘seat’ himself in it, his effort was a disaster. However, we recognize in some of the wording of this chapter that the LORD caused Jeremiah to “see” far beyond the time of the Babylon he knew. Some of his words are plainly echoed in the book of Revelation. Babylon is a Greek word, but in Hebrew it is the word “Babel” – and we know what happened to Babel.
The name Babylon is symbolic in Revelation of the entire anti-God attitude in the world since the time of Jesus. In these “last days” we can apply it to the negative attitude toward Israel that now inhabits the world, especially in the Middle East. In today’s chapter, verse 48 is prophetic of the time when “the heavens and the earth, and all that is in them, shall sing for joy over Babylon …”. The next verse (49) says, “Babylon must fall for the slain of Israel, just as for Babylon have fallen the slain of all the earth.” Babylon had overcome all the nations in that era.
Earlier verses clearly have a latter day application, “… this is the time of the LORD’s vengeance … Babylon was a golden cup in the LORD’s hand, making all the earth drunken … therefore the nations went mad. Sudden Babylon has fallen and been broken … for her judgment has reached up to heaven, and has been lifted up even to the skies.” [v.6-9]
These words are echo’d and quoted in Rev. 14 v.8; 18 v.3,5-6, 23 etc. God will surely deal with this latter day Babel; when Babel sinks, may we be so related to the wonder of things Divine that we do not fall with the latter day ‘tower of Babel..
