Word of Salvation – Vol. 27 No. 22 – February 1982

 

My Father: Lord Of The Nations

 

Sermon by Rev. D.K. Baird, Th. Grad. on Jeremiah 51:15-26

Scripture Reading: Jer.51:11-26.

Psalter Hymnal: 311; 601 (Book of Worship); 226; 142; 489

 

Sometimes things go wrong in our lives.  If they are just small things we will probably shrug them off:
            – the children will be better again in a day or two;
            – a missed opportunity – “well you can’t win them all!”

Larger things, however, may be harder.  We make mistakes, or others make them for us, that totally change the future course of our lives.  When those sorts of things happen can we still keep our head high, and maintain our trust in the Lord?

God’s people in the Old Testament had to face this problem at times, especially at the time of the Exile, when Jerusalem was attacked in 586 B.C.  It was all rather horrifying at that time; really it was like a nuclear attack, but without the radiation.  The Babylonians were not merely occupying forces.  They smashed, destroyed and burnt everything, and committed horrible atrocities.  If you had been there, would you have kept believing that God was in control and was your loving heavenly Father?  You may well have found yourself asking: Where is He?  Has He lost control over the nations?  Are the heathen idols more powerful than He is after all?

Those Jews must have been very despondent.  But in the midst of the tragedy and judgment the Lord sent a message of hope to those brethren through the prophet Jeremiah.  It is this message which is also a message of hope for us too.  From this passage in Jer.51:15-26 we find three encouraging things, the first of which is:-

1.   THE LORD IS EXALTED OVER THE IDOLS (Verses 15-19)

• The Lord to whom we sing in worship – the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ in whom we trust – is no-one less than the Creator of the world.

As we look around this world, let us recall that it is by His power that the mountains have been placed where they are; it is by His wisdom that the seasons continue in such an ordered way.  The expanse of the stars points to the might of our heavenly Father.

Verse 15: “He made the earth by his power; he founded the world by his wisdom and stretched out the heavens by his understanding.”

The weather is something we talk about every day of the week.  It is an important subject; our text speaks of it too.  Next time we have a thunderstorm for instance, let us stop and consider that the Lord, in a spectacular way, is reminding us He is around.  Actually, my heavenly Father is reminding me He is around.  For it is He who keeps the world rolling along day after day.  That is God’s providence.

So verse 16 says, “When he thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; he makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth.  He sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses.”

Even though this is all so, man is still so stupid as to worship idols.  Babylon was a classic case of this stupidity:— the greatest nation on earth worshipping hunks of metal, crafted by a goldsmith and now just sitting there staring into space: breathless, useless, lifeless, nothings.  They deceive you into thinking they can help you in some way, but they actually just leave you ashamed.

Verses 17 and 18 tell the story:- “Every man is senseless and without knowledge; every goldsmith is shamed by his idols.  His images are a fraud; they have no breath in them.  They are worthless, the objects of mockery; when their judgment falls, they will perish.”

Many people still serve idols; but in our day they are more sophisticated in their idolatry.  So many think the destiny of the world is controlled by:
            – economic or political philosophies;
            – fate;
            – one or other religions of the world,
            – “destiny”;
            – “chance”;
            – social evolution.

All these are but breathless idols.

Our God and Father is different to them all – completely so.  “He who is the portion of Jacob is not like these, for he is the maker of all things, including the tribe of his inheritance – the Lord Almighty is his name.” (verse 19).

That Lord of the defeated Jews.  That Lord of the present Christian minority.  He who has made us for himself is nothing like the popular idols.  He – our Lord – is the maker and fashioner of all.  He is the Lord Almighty.  He is no-one less.

2.  THE LORD WAS USING BABYLON (verses 20-23)

The Lord is exalted over the idols as he works out his sovereign will in both the small details of our lives and in crucial international affairs.  It is most important that we as Christians have a settled conviction on that.  It is not enough that we know we are going to heaven in the end; that Christ has saved us for the end of our lives.  In the meantime we need to grow in stability, balance and maturity as we cope with daily circumstances.  Our faith needs to remain steady whenever things go wrong.

We must be clear on this:
            – whatever happens is not by chance, rather God has willed it
            – God is not the author of sin.
            – His motives are pure and holy.
            – In him is no darkness at all.
            – The Lord, our heavenly Father is, graciously organising circumstances for the benefit of those he has redeemed though the blood of Christ.

The incidents of Babylon (and before that, Assyria) taking the Jews away captive into exile, provide us with some of the clearest examples in Scripture of the way the Lord works in this regard.

Babylon was very much a heathen nation.  It did not know the Lord, nor keep his commandments.  It committed atrocities in war.  Here in our text Jeremiah attacks their futile idolatry.  It was every bit a heathen nation.

AND YET the Lord used this nation to accomplish his will internationally – to implement his judgements against nations.  In verse 20 we read of the Lord saying to Babylon, “You are my war club, my weapon for battle – with you I shatter nations, with you I destroy kingdoms, with you I shatter horse and rider, with you I shatter chariot and driver,” and so on.

With Babylon the Lord shattered nations and armies, men and women, old and young, fellows and girls, farmers and graziers, governors and officials, in short, people in all sections of society.  As Babylon marched relentlessly across the earth, sparing nobody, it was actually implementing God’s judgements against nations.

Babylon’s armies arrived in Jerusalem and shattered it too.  God’s people, as a nation, had broken his commandments, and had become contaminated by the heathen idols.  They needed to be purified and cleansed to be the people of the Lord.  In this drastic way the evil had to be purged.  Indeed afterwards they never went back to the idols again.

In that fiery trial even, the Lord had a fatherly purpose.  In our life too, because we are Christ’s, our heavenly Father will use both small and larger events to mould and shape us to be more like Jesus.  He desires to mature us and purify us.  Christ Jesus has all authority to direct all things for the benefit of His Church.  Of course, when he uses evil things to mould and purify us, He is not the author or sponsor of sin.  Indeed His whole purpose is to cleanse us of sin.

3.  THE LORD JUDGED BABYLON (verses 24-26)

There is always a danger that our faith may waver when under pressure – that the thought will cross our minds that the Lord must be unjust if he uses evil things to purify us.  In our text, specifically to encourage us that the Lord is certainly not the author of sin, we are told that in the end the Lord will punish Babylon.

So verse 24-25: – “Before your eyes I will repay Babylon, and all who live in Babylonia for all the wrong they have done in Zion”, declares the Lord.

“I am against you, O destroying mountain, you who destroy the whole earth”, declares the Lord.  “I will stretch out my hand against you, roll you off the cliffs, and make you a burnt-out mountain.”

The Lord will lay waste this once mighty Babylon until it is nothing.  Once it was so prominent in world affairs it could be compared to a high mountain, visible for miles around.  In the future it will be conspicuous by its absence.  All those impressive buildings; those splendid hanging gardens; all gone!

Notice why the Lord would destroy Babylon:-

Verse 24: “….I will repay Babylon for all the wrong they have done in Zion.”  The Lord had used Babylon to discipline Judah and Jerusalem for her sins – to purify her from those sins.  But because she committed evil against God’s people, for that evil she will herself be punished.

Through Jeremiah, the Lord seeks to encourage his people.  Imagine how depressed and despondent the Jews would be – both those in Babylon and those still in Jerusalem.  The normal Jewish life – including their very central religious life – had been wiped out.  There seems to be no hope for the future either.  However the Lord holds out hope: they can be encouraged.  The Lord has not forgotten his people at all.  The monster Babylon will be punished.  The Lord redeemed his people for himself; they are not forgotten.  Indeed this very trial will purify them from their vain idols, and the Lord is continuing on with his purpose of bringing the Christ into the world through them.  The Lord loves Zion (the Church) where he has placed his own Name.  The Lord is “the Portion of Jacob”, “the tribe of his inheritance.”  He is committed to us in covenant.

CONCLUSION:

These truths we are to be clear on so as to give stability to our faith and life.  The Lord has redeemed us in Christ to be his very own.  Even when he disciplines us it is so we may be purified.  He has not forgotten his love, nor his justice to those who worship idols.

We must know that the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is the God of international affairs, and of the frustrations of daily life.  If we cannot cope when a stray dog spreads our garbage all over the nature strip, or when visiting children tip over the pot plants, how would we cope with nuclear war?  We need to practice the fact of the Lord being sovereign over these daily frustrating circumstances – to be clear in our minds that those things too do not happen by chance, but are included in the will of our heavenly Father.

Amen.