Today's reading is all about the prophecy regarding the complete annihilation of Babylon: the captor's of God's children. Babylon's destruction will be complete to the point that no trace of them will be found. Through this destruction, Israel and Judah will be set free and their sins of disobedience and rebellion will be no more. You can search for the sins of these nations but they will not be found because of God's forgiveness.
I am Judah. I am Israel. I was a rebellious child. I was disobedient. I lived a life that was in complete opposition to God. I knew how he wanted me to live but I saw that life as confined, cramped, controlling. It was a life that seemed boring, unsatisfying, & stifling. I wanted what felt like freedom to do what I wanted to do. Freedom to live a life I wanted to live. God is a loving God not an overbearing controlling God as he can sometimes be thought as. Being that loving God, he gave me just what I wanted. He gave me over to the sinful life I wanted to live. The problem is what I thought was freedom was actually captivity. I became captive to a life that was nothing I thought it would be. I found myself trapped, controlled by wrong choices, unsatisfied, hindered by the choices I had made and the life that I was now in. My sin was my Babylon, it was my captor!
Eventually I was like God's children. I longed to be freed from the bondage I was in. I was tired of the captive life. I longed for the chains to be loosed and to live a life of freedom within the safety of God's fortress of love, grace, mercy and forgiveness.
Jeremiah 50:4-5 (Today's reading)
"In those days, at that time," declares the LORD, "the people of Israel and the people of Judah together will go in tears to seek the LORD their God. They will ask the way to Zion and turn their faces toward it. They will come and bind themselves to the LORD in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten.
"In those days, at that time," declares the LORD, "the people of Israel and the people of Judah together will go in tears to seek the LORD their God. They will ask the way to Zion and turn their faces toward it. They will come and bind themselves to the LORD in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten.
Acts 3:19
"Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord."
"Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord."
With true repentance and a real desire to live within the boundaries of God's word (where true freedom exists) God will hear our hearts cries and free us from our captive sin. That is what he did for Israel and Judah when their hearts were truly broken.
Jeremiah 50:33-34 (today's reading)
"This is what the LORD Almighty says: "The people of Israel are oppressed, and the people of Judah as well. All their captors hold them fast, refusing to let them go. Yet their Redeemer is strong; the LORD Almighty is his name. He will vigorously defend their cause so that he may bring rest to their land."
"This is what the LORD Almighty says: "The people of Israel are oppressed, and the people of Judah as well. All their captors hold them fast, refusing to let them go. Yet their Redeemer is strong; the LORD Almighty is his name. He will vigorously defend their cause so that he may bring rest to their land."
John 8:34-36
"I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
"I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
We too have that same Redeemer, the Lord Almighty who is strong and our defender when we are too weak to break the chains that hold us to a life of sin. He is our defender and rescuer. He is our hope and in him we find our freedom. Not just partial freedom but complete freedom from the sins that hold us captive.
Jeremiah 50:19-20 (today's reading)
"But I will bring Israel back to his own pasture and he will graze on Carmel and Bashan; his appetite will be satisfied on the hills of Ephraim and Gilead. 20 In those days, at that time," declares the LORD, "search will be made for Israel's guilt, but there will be none, and for the sins of Judah, but none will be found, for I will forgive the remnant I spare."
"But I will bring Israel back to his own pasture and he will graze on Carmel and Bashan; his appetite will be satisfied on the hills of Ephraim and Gilead. 20 In those days, at that time," declares the LORD, "search will be made for Israel's guilt, but there will be none, and for the sins of Judah, but none will be found, for I will forgive the remnant I spare."
What a gift. Not only are Israel and Judah freed from captivity but the sins that caused them to end up there are nowhere to be found. Even their guilt is no longer in existence. All that Babylon represented in concern to their sins was gone completely.
Like Babylon, God destroyed my captor; he destroyed my sins that held me captive. He didn't just set me free but destroyed my sins, annihilated them by his sacrifice on the cross. Destroyed them so that not even a trace of them could be found. All this so that I could be completely and truly freed from the guilt and sin that was in my life. Never again can it hold me in bondage.
What a treasure I have been given and I, all too often, fail to realize what exactly was done for me by my Redeemer, my Savior: Jesus Christ. He forgave me, freed me, refreshed me, and has made my life full. How truly blessed am I.
Thank you Lord Almighty, my Redeemer for your forgiveness. Thank you for not just removing my sins from me but for destroying them completely on the cross. I can truly live a life of freedom knowing that they are no more. Never to be held against me. They can never hold my heart captive ever again. I can hold tight to your peace, your joy, and find complete rest and satisfaction that only can be found in you. Thank you for loving me enough to not let me remain in sin but to lead me from bondage into the pasture land of freedom.
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