Jeremiah 50:1–2: “The word that the LORD spoke against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet. / Declare among the nations, / Proclaim, and set up a standard; / Proclaim—do not conceal it— / Say, ‘Babylon is taken, Bel is shamed, Merodach is broken in pieces; / Her idols are humiliated, / Her images are broken in pieces.’”

November 18th, 2024 by Pastor Ed in devotional

As we approach the final chapters of Jeremiah, we find that God turned Jeremiah from prophesying about Babylon destroying the Gentile nations to the destruction of the nation of Babylon itself. This prophecy was given approximately 65 years before Babylon fell, so God was giving them a lot of warning. It seems the Babylonians had ascribed their world-dominating success to their god Bel and Merodoc, a lesser god used in worship of the moon. So here God Almighty was clearly predicting the destruction of the nation and its useless gods to reach out to the citizens of that nation. We are again reminded that God is always trying to reach the whole earth, as the Apostle Paul wrote: God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4).

There is a true story from a senate meeting that Vice President Calvin Coolidge presided over, where one senator angrily told another senator to go “straight to hell.” When the offended senator complained to Coolidge, he looked up from the book he had been leafing through while listening to the debate and quickly replied, “I’ve looked through the rule book. You don’t have to go.” And that is the truth; no one has to go to hell. All anyone has to do is repent and trust in what Jesus Christ has already done for them, and they will be spared spending eternity separated from God.

“LORD, we are grateful that You rescued us and want to use us today to show others Your power to save. Give us all the gifts we need to serve You well this day we ask in Jesus’ name.”