Jeremiah 51:11-23--The Utter Destruction of Babylon (Part 2)

Jeremiah 51:11-23
English Standard Version

11 “Sharpen the arrows!
    Take up the shields!

The LORD has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because his purpose concerning Babylon is to destroy it, for that is the vengeance of the LORD, the vengeance for his temple.

12 “Set up a standard against the walls of Babylon;
    make the watch strong;
set up watchmen;
    prepare the ambushes;
for the LORD has both planned and done
    what he spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.
13 O you who dwell by many waters,
    rich in treasures,
your end has come;
    the thread of your life is cut.
14 The LORD of hosts has sworn by himself:
Surely I will fill you with men, as many as locusts,
    and they shall raise the shout of victory over you.

15 “It is he who made the earth by his power,
    who established the world by his wisdom,
and by his understanding stretched out the heavens.
16 When he utters his voice there is a tumult of waters in the heavens,
    and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth.
He makes lightning for the rain,
    and he brings forth the wind from his storehouses.
17 Every man is stupid and without knowledge;
    every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols,
for his images are false,
    and there is no breath in them.
18 They are worthless, a work of delusion;
    at the time of their punishment they shall perish.
19 Not like these is he who is the portion of Jacob,
    for he is the one who formed all things,
and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance;
    the LORD of hosts is his name.

20 “You are my hammer and weapon of war:
with you I break nations in pieces;
    with you I destroy kingdoms;
21 with you I break in pieces the horse and his rider;
    with you I break in pieces the chariot and the charioteer;
22 with you I break in pieces man and woman;
    with you I break in pieces the old man and the youth;
with you I break in pieces the young man and the young woman;
23     with you I break in pieces the shepherd and his flock;
with you I break in pieces the farmer and his team;
    with you I break in pieces governors and commanders.

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We now finally learn who the LORD is going to use to conquer the Babylonians.  This enemy from the north will be the Medes.  The LORD will stir their hearts (along with the Persians) to destroy Babylon.  The LORD will have His vengeance for what the Babylonians did to His Temple in Jerusalem.

The LORD has planned and declared that this will be the end of Babylon.  Though they believed their fortifications were impenetrable, they will be broken.  Though they had the natural barrier of the Euphrates River, it will fail them.  The swarm of men that will descend on Babylon to defeat it will be like a hungry swarm of locusts ready to devour and destroy everything in their path.

This would sound unbelievable to most who would hear it, so the LORD reminds them that He is the one that spoke everything into existence out of nothing.  Nothing is too hard for Him.  As the Creator of all things, He is the rightful owner and the one with the right to build up and tear down kings and kingdoms.  If the heavens obey His voice, should not also the people of earth obey Him?  Yet the people of Babylon have chosen the way of rebellion and wickedness.  They must be judged for the good of all other men who may be led astray by their great evil.  The Babylonians worship many false gods, but the people of Israel and Judah who are descended from their father Jacob, they know the True and Living God and proclaim Him and His great Name to all the earth.  This is why their punishment was different.  God has a different plan for them.  They are to be His ambassadors to the whole world--to bring light to the darkness and to make known the One who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

The LORD will use the Medes and the Persian to break the proud and mighty people (like the Babylonians) just as He used the Babylonians to do so with many other wicked nations that Israel had failed to completely destroy.  What Babylon didn't finish, the Medo-Persian Empire will mostly take care of, and what they leave behind, the Greeks will take care of and what the Greeks leave behind, the Romans will take care of.  After that, the perfect time will come for the Messiah and His gospel to come and be proclaimed to the whole world.