A MESSAGE TO BABYLON: THE LORD OF RETRIBUTION

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“The sound of a cry comes from Babylon, the sound of great destruction from the land of the Babylonians.”

“The Lord will destroy Babylon; He will silence her noisy din. Waves of enemies will rage like great waters; the roar of their voices will resound. A destroyer will come against Babylon; her warriors will be captured, and their bows will be broken.”

“For the Lord is a God of retribution; He will repay in full. I will make her officials and wise men drunk, her governors, officers and warriors as well; they will sleep forever and not awake,” declares the King, whose name is the Lord Almighty.

This is what the Lord Almighty says:

“Babylon’s thick wall will be leveled and her high gates set on fire; the peoples exhaust themselves for nothing, the nations’ labor is only fuel for the flames.”

Jeremiah 51:54-58

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

“For the Lord is a God of retribution; He will repay in full.”

It’s a bold statement of truth that we find in today’s passage as we near the end of our study of Jeremiah 51 and one that should lead us to a place of apprehension and caution.

This is because of the very nature of the Lord and the very nature of retribution. Let’s look at both.

First, the very nature of the Lord is that He is our God Almighty, that last word affirming that He is all powerful. Omnipotent is a similar word used to describe the Lord because His might has no boundaries and thus there is nothing beyond the work of His hands, hands that hold the power to love, hands that hold the power to redeem and save, and hands that have the power to judge and hold His people accountable.

It’s that latter power that we find the Lord leveraging against the Babylonians in today’s scripture as He vows to destroy the once mighty empire of Babylon. That destruction would be carried out by the Persians who the Lord would use as an instrument of His punishment just as He had used the Babylonians before them. Babylon’s warriors would be subdued and captured as the nation was laid to waste and left desolate and uninhabited.

In the end translation, Babylon had decided to worship and adore false gods like Bel over the Lord God Almighty and so He had to show them just how powerless those false gods were as they were as lifeless as the faith of the Babylonians. They had earned the Lord’s retribution and the details of how Babylon would fall show the very nature of the word and how it’s something no one should want to experience from God.

In its very root definition, retribution simply means:

“Punishment administered in return for a wrong committed.”

In the case of the Babylonians, they had sinned against God in the worst way possible, disrespecting and dishonoring Him by worshiping gods outside of Him. That was their wrong committed and the punishment received was destruction. And don’t think this was just something minor demolition. The vast expanse of what was the world’s mightiest empire was completely annihilated by the Lord. No other power could have accomplished that but His power.

So where does that leave us before the Lord God Almighty today?

In a very precarious situation to say the least.

For we all have sinned against the Lord, over and over and over again. Even after repenting and promising to not fail again, even after knowing that the Lord hates sin and will bring consequences on anyone who commits it.

In fact, no person on earth can stand before Him on their own and avoid His destruction. We are all deserving of His fiercest retribution.

That’s what makes the Lord’s amazing grace so amazing because you see, God was not willing to see all His people perish because of their sins. He did not and He does not wish anyone to have to experience His retribution and so He gave up His only Son Jesus to suffer the consequences for us. God’s retribution for sin fell on His Son, the Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world and as He was resurrected to life after dying on the cross of Calvary, He stepped into a new role of intercessor for all of God’s people who would choose to place their faith, hope, and trust in Him as Savior.

Therefore, although the Lord God Almighty is a Lord of retribution, when the day of ultimate judgment comes, that retribution will not fall on those who are in Christ Jesus. Those who rejected Him will not be as fortunate.

So to sum up what God wants us to know today, He is indeed the Lord of retribution but He is also the Author of the salvation that will cancel His retribution, saving us from destruction through Jesus, His Son

Rejoice and be glad in that truth if you are in Christ. If you’re not, do yourself a favor and ensure you’ll pass up annihilation for eternal life by accepting Jesus as your Savior today. You’ll never ever regret that decision, trust me.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark
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