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- What attributes of God’s character does this passage reveal?
- How does the passage point to Jesus?
- How should the truth of this passage change me?
- How do the events of today’s reading help you better understand the grand narrative of Scripture?
Jer. 46-47
I had an interesting thought with this morning’s reading. In God’s judgments against the other nations, we see that they all trust in their own strength, wealth, wisdom, and no-gods. Thus, they believe they can stand against Babylon. However, God says, “not so!” He says that they will surely fall to Babylon. And they did.
I mentioned the other day that Babylon seems to be a symbol of human nature and our fallen, sinful condition. It represents our rebellion against God; our opposition to Him. So the thought that came to me is that God, in declaring that none of the nations would stand against Babylon, declared that we are all subject to the human condition. We are all guilty of sin. It’s as if Babylon is a sorting bucket into which everyone who does not measure up to God’s standard of perfect righteousness falls. The point is that none of us can stand on our own merit. When judged on that basis we all, like all those arrogant nations, fall to Babylon. We are all proven human and captive to our own sinful nature.
One other interesting point in this is that those who willingly turned themselves over to Babylon are the ones God redeemed. Thus, those of us who humble ourselves, admitting our human condition, are the ones who receive God’s mercy.
Jer. 48
God’s judgment against Moab shows us how we compare against God’s standard. Jeremiah 48:7 says, “Because you trust in your works and treasures, you will be captured also.” That is us attempting to stand on our own merit. Verse 13 says, “Moab will be put to shame because of Chemosh, just as the house of Israel was put to shame because of Bethel that they trusted in.” That is us replacing God. Finally, verse 29-30 says, “We have heard of Moab’s pride, great pride, indeed – his insolence, arrogance, pride, and haughty heart. I know his outburst. It is empty. His boast is empty.”
Our pride is the reason we try to replace God and stand on our own. We desperately want to believe that we are okay; that we are good enough. The harsh truth, however, is that we aren’t. Thus, if we choose to stand on that mistaken belief, we will end in shame because our boast is empty. We need to drop our pride, accept our humanity, and admit that only God is God.