The Walls Fall

34          “Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me;
he has crushed me;
                        he has made me an empty vessel;
he has swallowed me like a monster;
                        he has filled his stomach with my delicacies;
he has rinsed me out.
            35          The violence done to me and to my kinsmen be upon Babylon,”
let the inhabitant of Zion say.
                        “My blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea,”
let Jerusalem say.
            36          Therefore thus says the Lord:
                        “Behold, I will plead your cause
and take vengeance for you.
                        I will dry up her sea
and make her fountain dry,
            37          and Babylon shall become a heap of ruins,
the haunt of jackals,
                        a horror and a hissing,
without inhabitant.
            38          “They shall roar together like lions;
they shall growl like lions’ cubs.
            39          While they are inflamed I will prepare them a feast
and make them drunk, that they may become merry,
                        then sleep a perpetual sleep
and not wake, declares the Lord.
            40          I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter,
like rams and male goats.
            41          “How Babylon is taken,
the praise of the whole earth seized!
                        How Babylon has become
a horror among the nations!
            42          The sea has come up on Babylon;
she is covered with its tumultuous waves.
            43          Her cities have become a horror,
a land of drought and a desert,
                        a land in which no one dwells,
and through which no son of man passes.
            44          And I will punish Bel in Babylon,
and take out of his mouth what he has swallowed.
                        The nations shall no longer flow to him;
the wall of Babylon has fallen.
            45          “Go out of the midst of her, my people!
Let every one save his life
from the fierce anger of the Lord!
            46          Let not your heart faint, and be not fearful
at the report heard in the land,
                        when a report comes in one year
and afterward a report in another year,
                        and violence is in the land,
and ruler is against ruler.
            47          “Therefore, behold, the days are coming
when I will punish the images of Babylon;
                        her whole land shall be put to shame,
and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her.
            48          Then the heavens and the earth,
and all that is in them,
                        shall sing for joy over Babylon,
for the destroyers shall come against them out of the north,
declares the Lord.
            49          Babylon must fall for the slain of Israel,
just as for Babylon have fallen the slain of all the earth.
Jeremiah 50:34-49
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The Walls Fall
The Lord disciplines his own. He tests and he purifies. He takes that which he loves, and molds and shapes it to his own righteous ways. The people of Israel suffered under Babylon. God lays to waste in order that he can raise them up. He destroys your sin and sinful ways. He tests you and purifies you by discipline. He tests and does not tempt. He tests in order to make you stronger. He sends forth the Holy Spirit to create in you a clean heart and a right spirit. He sets up faith in your heart and connects you to Jesus and his righteousness. You, who has been knocked down, God raises up by this Gospel. Your sin caused great anger and wrath. The only thing that frees you from that wrath and protects you from God's anger is Jesus. You must be covered in Jesus. Your God does this to you and for you. He washes you and nourishes you. He brought you low and in Jesus he brings you all the way higher. Thanks be to God.