Jer 46:15-28 The Daughter of Egypt… Shall be Delivered into the Hand of the People of the North

[Study Aired July 24, 2022]

Jer 46:15  Why are thy valiant men swept away? they stood not, because the LORD did drive them.
Jer 46:16  He made many to fall, yea, one fell upon another: and they said, Arise, and let us go again to our own people, and to the land of our nativity, from the oppressing sword.
Jer 46:17  They did cry there, Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise; he hath passed the time appointed.
Jer 46:18  As I live, saith the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts, Surely as Tabor is among the mountains, and as Carmel by the sea, so shall he come.
Jer 46:19  O thou daughter dwelling in Egypt, furnish thyself to go into captivity: for Noph shall be waste and desolate without an inhabitant.
Jer 46:20  Egypt is like a very fair heifer, but destruction cometh; it cometh out of the north.
Jer 46:21  Also her hired men are in the midst of her like fatted bullocks; for they also are turned back, and are fled away together: they did not stand, because the day of their calamity was come upon them, and the time of their visitation.
Jer 46:22  The voice thereof shall go like a serpent; for they shall march with an army, and come against her with axes, as hewers of wood.
Jer 46:23  They shall cut down her forest, saith the LORD, though it cannot be searched; because they are more than the grasshoppers, and are innumerable.
Jer 46:24  The daughter of Egypt shall be confounded; she shall be delivered into the hand of the people of the north.
Jer 46:25  The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saith; Behold, I will punish the multitude of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with their gods, and their kings; even Pharaoh, and all them that trust in him:
Jer 46:26  And I will deliver them into the hand of those that seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants: and afterward it shall be inhabited, as in the days of old, saith the LORD.
Jer 46:27  But fear not thou, O my servant Jacob, and be not dismayed, O Israel: for, behold, I will save thee from afar off, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and be in rest and at ease, and none shall make him afraid.
Jer 46:28  Fear thou not, O Jacob my servant, saith the LORD: for I am with thee; for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee: but I will not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in measure; yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished.

This part of the prophecy of Jeremiah concerns the Lord’s judgment against the Gentiles, beginning with Egypt and the destruction Nebuchadnezzar is prophesied to bring against Egypt.

I will repeat the last two verses of our last study to set the tone of this prophesy against Egypt as Egypt signifies this rebellious and evil world within every man:

Jer 46:13  The word that the LORD spake to Jeremiah the prophet, how Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon should come and smite the land of Egypt.
Jer 46:14  Declare ye in Egypt, and publish in Migdol, and publish in Noph and in Tahpanhes: say ye, Stand fast, and prepare thee; for the sword shall devour round about thee.

Physical Jerusalem “is in bondage with her children” and is not at all ‘Jerusalem above which is the mother of us all.’

Gal 4:24  Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.
Gal 4:25  For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.
Gal 4:26  But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.

‘Agar’ is Hagar, a bondservant whom Pharaoh gave to Sarah as a “bondwoman”. Sarah then gave Hagar to Abraham to help the Lord make aging Abraham “a father of many nations”. Paul is telling us that Hagar’s place in history signifies the time we spend while under the influence of the great harlot who is in bondage with her children.

The great harlot is called ‘Mystery Babylon’. The word translated as “Mystery” in Revelation 17 is the Greek word ‘musterion’, and it means “a secret’, something that is known by a very few:

Rev 17:1  And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
Rev 17:2  With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
Rev 17:3  So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
Rev 17:4  And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
Rev 17:5  And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

G3466
μυστήριον
mustērion
moos-tay’-ree-on
From a derivative of μύω muō (to shut the mouth); a secret or “mystery” (through the idea of silence imposed by initiation into religious rites): – mystery.

Physical ‘Babylon’ is not spiritual “mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.” There is no mystery at all about who physical Babylon and physical Jerusalem are. Both are physical cities in physical countries. However, ‘Mystery Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth’ is a ‘secret’ until this very day. The depth of this “secret” is revealed to those who have “eyes to see”, by the fact that until this very day not one historic ‘Christian’ minister realizes the Truth of what we just read in plain English, that Hagar signifies ‘Jerusalem which now is and is in bondage with her children’. The ‘mystery’ of ‘Mystery Babylon the Great’ is that this ‘Great harlot’ signifies those who say they know God and therefore appropriate His name, but want nothing to do with His doctrine or His works:

Isa 4:1  And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach.

This ‘mystery’ is a secret which is so little known that few indeed can even agree with the holy spirit who tells us that the son of the bondwoman, ‘Hagar… answers to Jerusalem which now is and is in bondage with her children’ (Gal 4:25).

Gal 4:22  For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.
Gal 4:23  But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.
Gal 4:24  Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.
Gal 4:25  For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.

Not one single orthodox Christian believes or even knows this great ‘musterion’, this great ‘secret’ that ‘Jerusalem which now is… is in bondage with her children.’ It is indeed a great mystery, a great “secret” that “Jerusalem which now is… answers to Hagar’s [son], the son of the bondwoman”.

No orthodox Christian believes the ‘secret’ Truth of this verse:

Gal 4:30  Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman [“Jerusalem which now is”] shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.

Isa 1:21  How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.

Why is it that so many so-called ‘Christians’ are so spiritually blind that they are “swept away” with the lie that physical Jerusalem is the Lord’s chosen people? Why can’t they see that this doctrine makes them the spiritual sons of the bondwoman who “shall not be made heir with the son of the freewoman”? The answer to that question is in our next verses:

Jer 46:15  Why are thy valiant men swept away? they stood not, because the LORD did drive them.
Jer 46:16  He made many to fall, yea, one fell upon another: and they said, Arise, and let us go again to our own people, and to the land of our nativity, from the oppressing sword.
Jer 46:17  They did cry there, Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise; he hath passed the time appointed.

When anyone is ‘swept away’ with the lies and false doctrines of men, they do so ‘because the Lord did drive them’. Of course, we are deceived under such circumstances, but the greatest deception and false doctrine is that we chose of our own will to believe a lie. Indeed, we do choose to believe lies and falsehoods. The scriptures do not deny that we choose to ‘receive not the Truth’:

2Th 2:10  And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

The very next verse tells us why we ‘receive not the Truth’:

2Th 2:11  And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:

It is God who sends us “strong delusion, that we should believe a lie.” The only way we are deluded into believing a lie is because the Lord has blinded our eyes and given us ears that cannot hear His voice. Being given eyes that cannot see and ears that cannot hear the mysteries of the kingdom of God is just another way of telling us that God has hardened our hearts against the ‘voice’ of His Truth:

Heb 3:13  But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

Before Pharaoh ever met Moses, the Lord told Moses that He would harden Pharaoh’s heart:

Exo 4:21  And the LORD said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go.

So later when we read:

Exo 8:15  But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart, and hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said.

Exo 8:32  And Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also, neither would he let the people go.

Exo 9:34  And when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunders were ceased, he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart, he and his servants.

We know that Pharaoh, “he and his servants”, hardened his heart only because;

Exo 8:15  But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart, and hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said.

Exo 9:12  And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had spoken unto Moses.

Exo 10:1  And the LORD said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh: for I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his servants, that I might shew these my signs before him:

The Babylonian commentaries flatly deny and talk all around these Truths:

Pro 16:1  The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue [including Pharaoh], is from the LORD.

Pro 16:4  The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked [including Pharaoh] for the day of evil.

Pro 21:1  The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will [including Pharaoh].

The fact is that every hardened heart is a work of the Lord who is ‘working all things after the counsel of His own will’ (Eph 1:11).

Isa 63:17  O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.

Paul sums all these verses up in these few words;

Eph 1:9  Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
Eph 1:10  That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

There is a ‘dispensation’ which is called ‘the dispensation of the fullness of times’, and that is not exclusively an inward phrase. That phrase must also have an outward application before it can even mean anything that we can understand spiritually and inwardly. That outward application is the dispensation of the ‘great white throne/lake of fire/second death’ which must follow after the thousand-year reign of Christ and His Christ:

Rev 20:7  And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
Rev 20:8  And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
Rev 20:9  And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
Rev 20:10  And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

This ‘lake of fire… is the second death’ and those who are judged in the second judgment receive their judgment standing before the great white throne:

Rev 20:11  And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
Rev 20:12  And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
Rev 20:13  And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
Rev 20:14  And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
Rev 20:15  And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

The Father is “working all things after the counsel of His own will… according to His good pleasure which He has purposed in Himself.” Egypt went up to Carchemish, an Assyrian city which Babylon had just conquered, and Pharaoh and his armies were ‘driven’ to go up to that battle by the Lord, who is working all things after the counsel of His own will.

The Lord has made known to us the secret of His will by telling us, “All these things happened to them, and they are written for our admonition.”

1Co 10:11 Now all this befalls them  typically. Yet it was written for our admonition, to whom the consummations of the eons have attained. (CLV)

Another section of scripture which demonstrates the “great… darkness” of the blindness of the great harlot and her daughters is:

1Pe 1:9  Receiving the end of your faith,  even the salvation of your souls.
1Pe 1:10  Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:
1Pe 1:11  Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow [“Follow” is a qualifying word].
1Pe 1:12  Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.

If the Lord were to open the eyes of the daughters of Babylon to the Truth of these verses, the United States would have to change its foreign policy and acknowledge that ‘he is not a Jew which is one outwardly’ and our government would instead be obliged to defend and protect the Lord’s elect. That, of course, is not written in the Lord’s book for the kingdoms of this world.

The greatest lesson any of us who are being ministered to by “all these things” (1Co 10:11); the greatest lesson we can get out of all that was written for our admonition is that everything that happens, happens only because the Lord “worked it after the counsel of His own will” and He is working it all for our good if we are His chosen few.

The Lord Himself makes intercession for us “according to the will of God”:

Rom 8:27  And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
Rom 8:28  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Rom 8:29  For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Rom 8:30  Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

The fact that the Lord’s elect are predestinated necessitates that all others are also predestined not to be His elect. That’s why the statement… ‘all things work together for good’ is qualified with the words… “to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.” ‘All things’ are not working together for the good of ‘Egypt’ in this prophesy because Egypt is conquered and destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon.

Jer 46:18  As I live, saith the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts, Surely as Tabor is among the mountains, and as Carmel by the sea, so shall he come.

“So shall he come” refers to Nebuchadnezzar and his armies. The certainty of the Lord’s words through the prophet Jeremiah are as ‘sure as Tabor is among the mountains, and as Carmel by the sea’, both being obvious to all and beyond question by any. The Lord wants us to be aware that He is sovereign and will not be ordered about by mere dust (Gen 2:7):

Isa 45:1  Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut;
Isa 45:2  I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron:
Isa 45:3  And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the LORD, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.
Isa 45:4  For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.
Isa 45:5  I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:
Isa 45:6  That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.
Isa 45:7  I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

Isaiah prophesied about 70 years before Jeremiah, and here in Isaiah 45 He tells us of the fate of Babylon whom the Lord is using in Jeremiah’s prophecy to chasten His own people as well as the enemies of the Lord’s own people. Not only does the Lord reveal the nation which will conquer Babylon, He even names the king of that kingdom… “Thus saith the Lord to His anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him… For Jacob My servant’s sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by name: I have surnamed thee, though you hast not known me.”

So, both Nebuchadnezzar and Cyrus are called respectively, “My servant” and “His anointed” by the Lord:

Jer 27:6  And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him.
Jer 27:7  And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son’s son, until the very time of his land come: and then many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of him.

Isa 45:1  Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut;

What the Lord opens cannot be shut, and what He shuts cannot be opened. This statement refers to what the Lord will open to Cyrus, who conquered all of the Babylonian empire. This Truth has both a positive and a negative application as Isaiah had already demonstrated:

Isa 22:20  And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah:
Isa 22:21  And I will clothe him with thy robe, and strengthen him with thy girdle, and I will commit thy government into his hand: and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah.
Isa 22:22  And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.
Isa 22:23  And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place; and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father’s house.
Isa 22:24  And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father’s house, the offspring and the issue, all vessels of small quantity, from the vessels of cups, even to all the vessels of flagons.

Christ revealed that this is a promise made of Himself and His anointed:

Mat 16:18  And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter [‘Petros’, a mere pebble], and upon this rock [‘Petra’, a massive rock, Christ Himself] I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Mat 16:19  And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

The fact is that every leader of every country on this earth is the Lord’s servant because the Lord wants us to know:

Dan 4:17  This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will,  and setteth up over it the basest of men.

When the trumpet sounds, it was common knowledge in the days of the prophet Amos, that people became afraid of some impending danger. It was equally obvious to Amos that if there were evil in the city that, too, was an obvious work of the Lord.

Amo 3:3  Can two walk together, except they be agreed? [The obvious answer is an emphatic, “No, of course not!”]
Amo 3:4  Will a lion roar in the forest, when he hath no prey? [Obviously not!] will a young lion cry out of his den, if he have taken nothing? [Obviously not!]
Amo 3:5  Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth, where no gin is for him? [Obviously not!] shall one take up a snare from the earth, and have taken nothing at all? [Obviously not!]
Amo 3:6  Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? [Obviously not!] shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it? [Obviously not! It was done of Him who is working all things after the counsel of His own will.]

The evil and the good in this world are all being worked together for the sake of the Lord’s elect:

Isa 45:4  For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.

1Co 3:21  Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;

2Co 4:15  For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.
2Co 4:16  For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

Paul is telling us that this prophecy of Jeremiah concerning the Gentiles (Jer 46:1) is for our sakes and our admonition:

1Co 10:11 Now all this befalls them typically. Yet it was written for our admonition, to whom the consummations of the eons have attained.

Jer 46:19  O thou daughter dwelling in Egypt, furnish thyself to go into captivity: for Noph shall be waste and desolate without an inhabitant.
Jer 46:20  Egypt is like a very fair heifer, but destruction cometh; it cometh out of the north.
Jer 46:21  Also her hired men are in the midst of her like fatted bullocks; for they also are turned back, and are fled away together: they did not stand, because the day of their calamity was come upon them, and the time of their visitation.

The use of the word ‘daughter’, as in “daughter dwelling in Egypt”, always alludes to a church or the religion of any nation, and spiritual ‘Egypt’ is full of the false doctrines of her religious leaders. When Israel apostatized at Mount Sinai, they reverted to what they had seen and done while in Egypt. They reverted to worshiping the same image the Egyptians worshiped – a golden calf.

Verse 20 is one more verse which demonstrates that the north signifies the impending judgments of God upon His own people first, and in this case even upon Egypt and the Gentiles.

The “hired men” of verse 21 refer to the hired soldiers of other countries mentioned in verse 9 of this same chapter:

Jer 46:9  Come up, ye horses; and rage, ye chariots; and let the mighty men come forth; the Ethiopians and the Libyans, that handle the shield; and the Lydians, that handle and bend the bow.

Inwardly and spiritually these “hired men” typify the spiritual “hirelings” referred to by our Lord in His parable of the good shepherd in:

Joh 10:11  I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
Joh 10:12  But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.
Joh 10:13  The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep.
Joh 10:14  I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.

“The wolf catches them and scatters the sheep” is what always happens, as Gamaliel warned the Sanhedrin:

Act 5:33  When they [The Sanhedrin] heard that [they had crucified the Son of God], they were cut to the heart, and took counsel to slay them.
Act 5:34  Then stood there up one in the council, a Pharisee, named Gamaliel, a doctor of the law, had in reputation among all the people, and commanded to put the apostles forth a little space;
Act 5:35  And said unto them, Ye men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what ye intend to do as touching these men.
Act 5:36  For before these days rose up Theudas, boasting himself to be somebody; to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves: who was slain; and all, as many as obeyed him, were scattered, and brought to nought.
Act 5:37  After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing, and drew away much people after him: he also perished; and all, even as many as obeyed him, were dispersed.
Act 5:38  And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought:
Act 5:39  But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God.

The “good shepherd” is contrasted with “an hireling” who takes advantage of the Lord’s flock, but does not feed them with the Lord’s Words. Instead a hireling feeds the Lord’s flock the lies of the great red dragon, the double-tongued, lying serpent, the devil, who “was a murderer… and… a liar… from the beginning”:

Joh 8:43  Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.
Joh 8:44  Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

‘The time of their visitation’ is defined as ‘the day of their calamity’. It is the day of our judgment under the wrath of the Lord.

This is what we are told of Egypt’s “hired men”:

Jer 46:22  The voice thereof shall go like a serpent; for they [Nebuchadnezzar’s army] shall march with an army, and come against her with axes, as hewers of wood.
Jer 46:23  They shall cut down her forest, saith the LORD, though it cannot be searched; because they are more than the grasshoppers, and are innumerable.

‘The voice thereof’ refers to the “hired men” of “the daughters of Egypt” and “they shall march with an army, and come with axes, as hewers of wood”, refers to the armies of Babylon… the Lord’s “servant”. The Egyptians’ numbers were massive, but the Lord has already determined they would be decimated by the ‘hewers of wood’ from Babylon.

Jer 46:24  The daughter of Egypt shall be confounded; she shall be delivered into the hand of the people of the north.
Jer 46:25  The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saith; Behold, I will punish the multitude of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with their gods, and their kings; even Pharaoh, and all them that trust in him:

Just as the Lord begins His judgments at His own house (1Pe 4:17), He begins to judge the Gentiles with “the daughters of Egypt”:

Jer 46:26  And I will deliver them into the hand of those that seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants: and afterward it shall be inhabited, as in the days of old, saith the LORD.

“Afterward it [Egypt] shall be inhabited” is one more verse of scripture which teaches universal salvation for ‘all in Adam’ (1Co 15:22). We will see this repeated as we read of the Lord’s judgments against all the Gentile enemies of His people in the next several chapters of Jeremiah.

Once again, while these outward Gentile nations are types of our inward spiritual enemies, with whom we do war in our heavens, they also outwardly demonstrate that all outward nations will also be saved from death. “Afterward it shall be inhabited” means ‘after’ they are judged, and it means ‘after’ the judgment that begins at the house of God, ‘after’ those who are given a part in the “blessed and holy first resurrection… the resurrection of life”:

Joh 5:26  For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself;
Joh 5:27  And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.
Joh 5:28  Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
Joh 5:29  And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life [At the beginning of ‘the thousand years’ (Rev 20:1-6)]; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation [“When the thousand years are finished’ (Rev 20:5, 7)].

Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

The last two verses of Jeremiah 46 refer to the Lord’s elect as ‘a kind of firstfruits… unto God and the Lamb’ of:

Jas 1:18  Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

Rev 14:4  These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.

Jer 46:27  But fear not thou, O my servant Jacob, and be not dismayed, O Israel: for, behold, I will save thee from afar off, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and be in rest and at ease, and none shall make him afraid.
Jer 46:28  Fear thou not, O Jacob my servant, saith the LORD: for I am with thee; for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee: but I will not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in measure; yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished.

“Yet will I not leave you wholly unpunished means that we, too, must reap what we have sown in these clay vessels. These words apply to the elect as much or more than anyone else:

Gal 6:7  Be not deceived; God is not mocked:: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
Gal 6:8  For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

This is what the Lord told us earlier in this prophecy concerning His very elect:

Jer 21:11  And touching the house of the king of Judah, say, Hear ye the word of the LORD;
Jer 21:12  O house of David, thus saith the LORD; Execute judgment in the morning, and deliver him that is spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor, lest my fury go out like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
Jer 21:13  Behold, I am against thee, O inhabitant of the valley, and rock of the plain, saith the LORD; which say, Who shall come down against us? or who shall enter into our habitations?
Jer 21:14  But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, saith the LORD: and I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof, and it shall devour all things round about it [All the ‘wood, hay, and stubble’ within our lives (1Co 3:13-16)].

Christ’s sacrifice does not eliminate His judgments upon the kingdom of our old man. The blessing is in being judged first and in ‘this present time’ when ‘judgment must begin at the house of God’:

Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

“The sufferings of this present time” certainly includes our own judgment in “this present time’ which we are told must ‘first begin at us’:

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
1Pe 4:18  And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? [They will appear at ‘the resurrection of judgment (Joh 5:29), the great white throne… judgment’ (Rev 20;11).]

Look at the ‘glory to be revealed in us’ in the very next verses of Romans 8. I’ll repeat verse 18:

Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Rom 8:19  For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
Rom 8:20  For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
Rom 8:21  Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
Rom 8:22  For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
Rom 8:23  And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

May the Lord give us all ‘respect unto the recompense of [our] reward’ as ‘the firstfruits of the spirit’ and not despise it as worth no more than a bowl of pottage as Esau did:

Heb 11:24  By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter;
Heb 11:25  Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;
Heb 11:26  Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.