Jeremiah 50

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TALKS FOR GROWING CHRISTIANS

Jeremiah’s Prophecies against Babylon

Some prophetic details of Jeremiah’s prophecy against Babylon were not fulfilled in history.

Some of the specific prophecies against the Babylonian empire were fulfilled at the time of Persia’s takeover of Babylon. List those found in verses 2 and 18.
Several of the prophecies against Babylon found in this chapter have not yet been fulfilled. In this regard:

a. What nations destroyed Babylon and from what direction did they come?

b. Was Babylon ever catastrophically overthrown as Sodom and Gomorrah were (vs 39-40)? Was Babylon made completely desolate and uninhabited by the Medes and the Persians (vs 11-16)?

c. Did the Jewish people flee from Babylon when the Persians came to power (vs 16, 28)?

d. Has a united Israel entered into the blessings of the new covenant (vs 4-5)?

The shaming of Babylon’s chief deities, Bel and Marduk did take place (v 2), and Babylon and its king were punished (v 18).
a. The Babylon of history was destroyed by the Medes and the Persians who came from the east of Babylon. They were also neighbors and not from the remote parts of the earth (v 41).

b. Babylon was never destroyed as Sodom and Gomorrah were. The ancient city of Babylon did decline and the ruins of the city can be seen today, but its end was not catastrophic as verses 39 and 40 predict. Babylon was not made completely desolate and uninhabited by the Medes and Persians. Many of the Jewish people continued to live there and Daniel served the Persian Empire in Babylon.

c. The Jewish people did not flee from Babylon as refugees and fugitives when the Persians came to power and Cyrus the Persian did not pillage Babylon. The Lord refers to Cyrus as His shepherd in Isaiah 44 and 45.

d. United Israel has not yet entered into the blessings of the new covenant as verses 4-5 predict. The everlasting or perpetual covenant here is not the old, Mosaic Covenant, but is the new covenant predicted by Jeremiah in chapter 31. We believe “those days” of verse 4 are still in the future when the Jewish people return to the land and to the Lord as well (vs 19-20). Those will be the days when there will be “no iniquity” (v 20).

Review Revelation chapters 17 and 18 as well as the prophecy of Zechariah chapter 5. Discuss how these portions of Scripture give the answer as to when the future prophetic events predicted in this chapter of Jeremiah will be fulfilled.

Are you convinced that the time of the rapture could come soon? Does your relationship with the Lord and your service for Him indicate that you are ready? Are you preparing for the Shout?

“In those days and in that time,” says the Lord, “the iniquity of Israel shall be sought, but there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, but they shall not be found; for I will pardon those whom I preserve.” Jeremiah 50:20