Book of Jeremiah – Jer 50:1-15 The Word the Lord Spake Against Babylon
Jer 50:1-15 The Word the Lord Spake Against Babylon
[Study Aired September 18, 2022]
Jer 50:1 The word that the LORD spake against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet.
Jer 50:2 Declare ye among the nations, and publish, and set up a standard; publish, and conceal not: say, Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces.
Jer 50:3 For out of the north there cometh up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein: they shall remove, they shall depart, both man and beast.
Jer 50:4 In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together, going and weeping: they shall go, and seek the LORD their God.
Jer 50:5 They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, saying, Come, and let us join ourselves to the LORD in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.
Jer 50:6 My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their restingplace.
Jer 50:7 All that found them have devoured them: and their adversaries said, We offend not, because they have sinned against the LORD, the habitation of justice, even the LORD, the hope of their fathers.
Jer 50:8 Remove out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the he goats before the flocks.
Jer 50:9 For, lo, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the north country: and they shall set themselves in array against her; from thence she shall be taken: their arrows shall be as of a mighty expert man; none shall return in vain.
Jer 50:10 And Chaldea shall be a spoil: all that spoil her shall be satisfied, saith the LORD.
Jer 50:11 Because ye were glad, because ye rejoiced, O ye destroyers of mine heritage, because ye are grown fat as the heifer at grass, and bellow as bulls;
Jer 50:12 Your mother shall be sore confounded; she that bare you shall be ashamed: behold, the hindermost of the nations shall be a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.
Jer 50:13 Because of the wrath of the LORD it shall not be inhabited, but it shall be wholly desolate: every one that goeth by Babylon shall be astonished, and hiss at all her plagues.
Jer 50:14 Put yourselves in array against Babylon round about: all ye that bend the bow, shoot at her, spare no arrows: for she hath sinned against the LORD.
Jer 50:15 Shout against her round about: she hath given her hand: her foundations are fallen, her walls are thrown down: for it is the vengeance of the LORD: take vengeance upon her; as she hath done, do unto her.
After the Lord uses wicked men to judge and punish His people for their iniquity, He then judges those He used as His sword to punish His own first-fruit people. Babylon was the Lord’s instrument to punish His own self-righteous, iniquitous people, and our study today concerns the Lord’s judgment upon Babylon as the type of those He uses to judge and to punish us:
Psa 17:13 Arise, O LORD, disappoint him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword:
Psa 17:14 From men which are thy hand, O LORD, from men of the world, which have their portion in this life, and whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure: they are full of children, and leave the rest of their substance to their babes.
Jer 50:1 The word that the LORD spake against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet.
Jer 50:2 Declare ye among the nations, and publish, and set up a standard; publish, and conceal not: say, Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces.
Just as Babylon came “out of the north” to deliver the Lord’s wrath upon His own people, the judgment of Babylon is also “out of the north:
Jer 50:3 For out of the north there cometh up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein: they shall remove, they shall depart, both man and beast.
Eze 9:1 He cried also in mine ears with a loud voice, saying, Cause them that have charge over the city to draw near, even every man with his destroying weapon in his hand.
Eze 9:2 And, behold, six men came from the way of the higher gate, which lieth toward the north, and every man a slaughter weapon in his hand; and one man among them was clothed with linen, with a writer’s inkhorn by his side: and they went in, and stood beside the brasen altar.
Eze 9:3 And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon he was, to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed with linen, which had the writer’s inkhorn by his side;
Eze 9:4 And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, [The great harlot (Isa 1:21)] and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof [“The mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth” (Rev 17:5)].
Just as Jeremiah and Baruch were protected and allowed to stay in Judah, God will always protect those who have His ‘mark’ in their foreheads. It is “upon the forehead” because that mark is “the mind of Christ”:
1Co 2:16 “Who has known the mind of the Lord so that he can teach him?” However, we have the mind of Christ. (GWV)
Jer 50:4 In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together, going and weeping: they shall go, and seek the LORD their God.
Jer 50:5 They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, saying, Come, and let us join ourselves to the LORD in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.
‘Zion’ typifies the throne of Christ. It is Christ and His kingdom to whom we look of our salvation:
Act 4:10 Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole.
Act 4:11 This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.
Act 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
The reuniting of physical Israel and Judah and their return to the Lord is qualified as taking place “when your sisters Sodom… and Samaria… return to their former estate, then you and your daughters will return to your former estate”:
Eze 16:55 When thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate, then thou and thy daughters shall return to your former estate.
That is the qualified timing for the outward fulfillment of this prophecy:
Rom 11:25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to [outward, physical] Israel, until the fulness of the [outward physical] Gentiles be come in.
Rom 11:26 And so all [outward] Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:
Rom 11:27 For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.
The salvation of physical Israel as a whole, has not and, will not take place in “this present time” (Rom 8:18). The salvation of physical Israel will take place only “when Sodom and her daughters return to their former estate”. In plain language it will not occur until the white throne judgment. The phrase “return to their former estate” means they will ‘return to having a relationship with Christ’.
Nevertheless, the reunification of Israel with Judah has a present application in the 144,000 who are being judged in “this present time”, in this physical life. These 144,000 are called “the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb”, and they are counted as twelve thousand from each tribe of Israel:
Rev 7:1 And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.
Rev 7:2 And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea,
Rev 7:3 Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
Rev 7:4 And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.
Who are these 12,000 from each tribe of Israel who are sealed in their foreheads as “the servants of our God”? The answer is that they are “the firstfruits unto God and the Lamb”:
Rev 14:1 And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.
Rev 14:2 And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps:
Rev 14:3 And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.
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.
Rev 14:5 And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.
Paul informs us that we are those “who first trusted in Christ”:
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:
Eph 1:12 That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
It is we who are “sealed” in our fore heads who weep for the abominations being done in the Lord’s adulterous city where our Lord was crucified:
Eph 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Rev 11:8 And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.
Isa 1:1 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
Isa 1:10 Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.
Isa 1:21 How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.
“The firstfruits unto God” are not excluded from His judgments. The fact is that they are preeminent in His judgments as they are the first to endure His fiery judgments:
1Pe 4:12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
1Pe 4:13 But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.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?
1Pe 4:19 Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.
That is where we are here in Jeremiah. ‘Judgment has first begun at the house of God’:
Jer 50:6 My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their restingplace.
“Their shepherds have caused them to go astray… from mountain to hill”. Mount Zion is where the Lord will place His throne which He has “prepared for judgment”. He considers Mount Zion to be beautiful, and it is called “the city of the great king”:
Psa 9:7 But the LORD shall endure for ever: he hath prepared his throne for judgment.
Psa 9:14 That I may shew forth all thy praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion: I will rejoice in thy salvation.
Psa 48:2 Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King.
The Lord’s throne and His temple are “in heaven”:
Psa 11:4 The LORD is in his holy temple, the LORD’S throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men.
The Lord sits upon His throne:
Psa 47:8 God reigneth over the heathen: God sitteth upon the throne of his holiness.
His throne is being prepared “in the heavens” and will rule this world:
Psa 103:19 The LORD hath prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all.
The salvation of Israel comes out of Mount Zion:
Psa 53:6 Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! When God bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.
King David tells us the redeemed are Zion and that the Lord dwells within His redeemed:
Psa 74:2 Remember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old; the rod of thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed; this mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt.
The Lord will not dwell in a filthy temple in a defiled heaven. The heavens must first be purified by and through His fiery judgments:
Heb 9:22 And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.
Heb 9:23 It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
Heb 9:24 For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:
It is of this purifying judgment of the Lord that we read:
Jer 50:7 All that found them have devoured them: and their adversaries said, We offend not, because they have sinned against the LORD, the habitation of justice, even the LORD, the hope of their fathers.
Jer 50:8 Remove out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the he goats before the flocks.
This is where John’s words get their inspiration in:
Rev 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
Few people in today’s urbanized society can understand the admonition to “be as the he goats before the flock”. People who have had sheep and goats know that sheep, even the male rams will follow where a he-goat leads. The Lord admonishes His people “Be as the he goats before the flocks”. Be leaders who want to “feed my sheep” as Christ three times admonished Peter:
Joh 21:15 So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.
Joh 21:16 He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep.
Joh 21:17 He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.
The Lord wants His people to be leaders who are willing to blaze the fiery trail of salvation. All His people who are given to remain faithful to the end in “this present time” will have been given the backbone to fear the Lord more than they fear being rejected by society, by their friends and even by their own families. The Lord’s people know that the religions of this world, and shepherds of those religions, are at this very moment leading the Lord’s people from His mountain to their own little hill, their own ‘kingdoms of this world’.
Jer 50:9 For, lo, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the north country: and they shall set themselves in array against her; from thence she shall be taken: their arrows shall be as of a mighty expert man; none shall return in vain.
Jer 50:10 And Chaldea shall be a spoil: all that spoil her shall be satisfied, saith the LORD.
Jer 50:11 Because ye were glad, because ye rejoiced, O ye destroyers of mine heritage, because ye are grown fat as the heifer at grass, and bellow as bulls;
The destroyers of the Lord’s people make merchandise of them and become rich and “fat” at their expense. There can be no doubt that the shepherds of the Lord’s people are the ministers of Babylon because we are told right here in this chapter on the judgment of Babylon that it is the shepherds of the Lord’s people who have led them into “mystery Babylon the Great”:
Jer 50:6 My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their restingplace.
What this tells us is that Judah was in ‘Mystery Babylon’ before she was carried away by the armies of physical Babylon. This theme is carried over into the New Testament where Paul and John both lament what they knew was happening right before their eyes. This is what Paul told the elders of Ephesus just before he left Ephesus for Jerusalem where he was apprehended by the Jews:
Act 20:28 Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
Act 20:29 For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
Act 20:30 Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.
Act 20:31 Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.
The number ‘three’ always signifies that the process of judgment is under way.
John lived to see the apostate ‘Diotrephes’ become so preeminent that he could cast out of the church those John sent to the church:
3Jn 1:9 I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not.
3Jn 1:10 Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the church.
The church of our Lord and the churches which had been raised up by the apostles had become the great harlot before the apostles had all died.
Notice what Paul says about “all they in Asia”:
2Ti 1:15 This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me; of whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes.
“All they which are in Asia” are “the seven churches of Asia” to whom the book of Revelation is addressed:
Rev 1:4 John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne;
Jer 50:12 Your mother shall be sore confounded; she that bare you shall be ashamed: behold, the hindermost of the nations shall be a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.
The religions of this world, which have been like the head of gold on the image in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, will go from such prominence to being “the hindermost of the nations” and despised of all men.
Jer 50:13 Because of the wrath of the LORD it shall not be inhabited, but it shall be wholly desolate: every one that goeth by Babylon shall be astonished, and hiss at all her plagues.
‘In the fullness of times’ Babylon within us and Babylon in all men will be destroyed “because of the wrath of the Lord”. It is the seven last plagues which fill up the wrath of God at that time in our lives as Revelation 14-16 explains:
Rev 14:8 And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
Rev 14:9 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, [“All men” (Rev 13:16)]
Rev 14:10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:Rev 13:16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
“All nations” (Rev 14:8) and “all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond” is all inclusive of all who are in Adam and Noah and have rebelled against the covenant with God which they are under. “Every man… each in his own order” will experience these “seven last plagues”, which will be used of the Lord to drag all men out of Babylon and unto Himself:
Joh 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw [G1670: ‘drag’] him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
1Co 3:13 Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day [“of the wrath of God”] shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.
Rev 15:1 And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.
Rev 16:17 And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.
Rev 16:18 And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.
Rev 16:19 And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.
The fall and destruction of the religions of this world will be the greatest ‘earthquake’ “since men were upon the earth”. You and I cannot imagine how the Lord will accomplish such a momentous event, but He will bring it to pass, and outward Babylon the Great, all the religions of this world, will be destroyed by the brightness of His coming, just as He destroyed ‘Babylon the Great’ within each of us:
2Th 2:8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
“Brightness of His coming” means that Christs power and preeminence will be undeniable throughout the whole world.
Luk 17:24 For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day.
Luk 17:25 But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation.
It is in the Lord’s power to make His powerful presence known world-wide just that fast, “as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven”.
Because God made a covenant “with [Noah] and his seed after [him]” Babylon signifies all religions and all their greedy holy men who make merchandise of the Lord’s flock while teaching doctrines which are in rebellion against the words of Christ:
Gen 9:5 And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man.
Gen 9:6 Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.
Gen 9:7 And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.
Gen 9:8 And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying,
Gen 9:9 And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you; [All mankind]
God is in covenant with all men, and this rebellion against Him and His covenant is “Mystery Babylon the Great the Mother of Harlots and of the Abominations of the World” which afflicts “all nations” (Rev 14:8).
2Pe 2:1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
2Pe 2:2 And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.
2Pe 2:3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.Rev 14:8 And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
If a man who claims to be speaking for Christ asks you for money for the message he is giving you, then you are dealing with a “grievous wolf [and] the voice of a stranger” (Act 20:29, Joh 10:5). This is what Christ tells us, and this is what those in whom He dwells will do:
Mat 10:7 And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Mat 10:8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.
The greedy whore system is now being judged within all who are in Christ and the judgment of that great whore will also have a climatic, end of the age fulfillment:
Jer 50:14 Put yourselves in array against Babylon round about: all ye that bend the bow, shoot at her, spare no arrows: for she hath sinned against the LORD.
Isaiah had prophesied of the fall of Babylon long before Babylon became a prominent city:
Isa 21:9 And, behold, here cometh a chariot of men, with a couple of horsemen. And he answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground.
Isa 47:1 Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground: there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate.
Isa 48:20 Go ye forth of Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans, with a voice of singing declare ye, tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth; say ye, The LORD hath redeemed his servant Jacob.
Jeremiah admonishes us to “bend the bow, shoot at her, spare no arrows” (Jer 50:14). Arrows signify doctrines, and archers signify teachers. Those who destroy Babylon will use her own words to condemn and destroy her because she uses the Lord’s words but does not obey the Lord’s words:
Mat 23:1 Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples,
Mat 23:2 Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat:
Mat 23:3 All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.
What “they say” is the very arrows (Jer 50:14) which the ten horns will use to ‘shoot at her for she hath sinned against the Lord’.
The Lord’s words are also called ‘fire’ in the mouths of His prophets:
Jer 5:14 Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.
The ten horns on the beast will also use the Lord’s words which the great harlot speaks hypocritically to “burn her with fire”:
Luk 19:22 And he saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow:
Rev 17:16 And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.
Rev 17:17 For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.
The Lord instructs those who are sent to destroy Babylon to “bend the bow, shoot at her, spare no arrows: for she hath sinned against the LORD”. Those ‘arrows’ signify words, including the words of the Lord:
Job 6:4 For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit: the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me.
Psa 18:13 The LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire.
Psa 18:14 Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them; and he shot out lightnings, and discomfited them. [“The lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven” is the proclamation that: “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ” (Rev 11:15)]Rev 11:15 And the seventh angel sounded [his trumpet]; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.
Rev 11:19 And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.
The lightning, voices, thunderings, earthquakes, and great hail are one and all the words and voice of the Lord which will burn with fire the kingdom of the great whore:
Isa 28:17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
Zec 9:14 And the LORD shall be seen over them, and his arrow shall go forth as the lightning: and the Lord GOD shall blow the trumpet, and shall go with whirlwinds of the south.
Psa 64:3 Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words:
In 1 Samuel we read:
1Sa 31:3 And the battle went sore against Saul, and the archers hit him; and he was sore wounded of the archers.
Here is the definition of the Hebrew word ‘yarah’, translated as ‘archers’ in this verse and as “shooter” in 2 Samuel 11:24:
H3384
יָרָא יָרָה
yârâh yârâ’
yaw-raw’, yaw-raw’A primitive root; properly to flow as water (that is, to rain); transitively to lay or throw (especially an arrow, that is, to shoot); figuratively to point out (as if by aiming the finger), to teach: – (+ archer, cast, direct, inform, instruct, lay, shew, shoot, teach (-er, -ing), through.
Total KJV occurrences: 83
‘Archer’ and ‘shooter’ are both proper translations of this word, but let’s take note of how this Hebrew word ‘yarah’ is by far most commonly translated:
H3384
ירא / ירה
yârâh / yârâ’
Total KJV Occurrences: 82
teach, 33
Exo_4:12, Exo_4:15, Exo_24:12, Exo_35:34, Lev_10:11, Lev_14:57, Deu_17:11, Deu_24:8, Deu_33:10, Jdg_13:8, 1Sa_12:23, 1Ki_8:36, 2Ki_17:27, Job_6:24, Job_8:10, Job_12:7-8 (2), Job_27:11, Job_34:32, Psa_25:8, Psa_25:12, Psa_27:11, Psa_32:8, Psa_45:4, Psa_86:11, Psa_119:33, Isa_2:3, Isa_28:9, Isa_28:26, Eze_44:23, Mic_3:11, Mic_4:2, Hab_2:19
shoot, 10
1Sa_20:20, 1Sa_20:36, 2Sa_11:20, 2Ki_13:17, 2Ki_19:32, 2Ch_26:15, Psa_11:2, Psa_64:4 (2), Psa_64:7
shot, 7
Exo_19:13, Num_21:30, 1Sa_20:36-37 (2), 2Sa_11:24, 2Ki_13:17, 2Ch_35:23
archers, 5
1Ch_10:3 (4), 2Ch_35:23
taught, 5 2Ki_17:28, 2Ch_6:27, Psa_119:102, Pro_4:4, Pro_4:11
cast, 4
Gen_31:51, Exo_15:4, Jos_18:6, Job_30:19
teachers, 3
Pro_5:13, Isa_30:20 (2)
teacheth, 3
Job_36:22, Pro_6:13, Isa_9:15
rain, 2
Hos_6:3, Hos_10:12
casteth, 1
Pro_26:18
direct, 1
Gen_46:28
inform, 1
Deu_17:10
instructed, 1
2Ki_12:2
laid, 1
Job_38:6
shooters, 1
2Sa_11:24
showed, 1
Exo_15:24-25 (2)
teacher, 1
Hab_2:18
teaching, 1
2Ch_15:3
watered, 1
Pro_11:25
‘Archers’ (five entries), ‘shooters’ (one entry), and almost all other entries carry the concept of teaching or instructing. That is what the Hebrew word ‘yarah’, translated as ‘archers’ only five times, actually signifies.
Jer 50:15 Shout against her round about: she hath given her hand: her foundations are fallen, her walls are thrown down: for it is the vengeance of the LORD: take vengeance upon her; as she hath done, do unto her.
“Round about” means from every direction, as Israel shouted while circling Jericho. “She hath given her hand” means that “her foundations have fallen”. It means she realizes her end is imminent. This is how the book of Revelation reveals this great world-wide harlot system will be destroyed:
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 17:12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
Rev 17:13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.Rev 17:16 And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.
The very next chapter tells us what happens during this symbolic “one hour with the beast”:
Rev 18:10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
Rev 18:17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
Rev 18:19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.
Zechariah speaks of the Lord’s appearing in these words:
Zec 9:14 And the LORD shall be seen over them, and his arrow shall go forth as the lightning: and the Lord GOD shall blow the trumpet, and shall go with whirlwinds of the south.
Zec 9:15 The LORD of hosts shall defend them; and they shall devour, and subdue with sling stones; and they shall drink, and make a noise as through wine; and they shall be filled like bowls, and as the corners of the altar.
Zec 9:16 And the LORD their God shall save them in that day as the flock of his people: for they shall be as the stones of a crown, lifted up as an ensign upon his land.
Zec 9:17 For how great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty! corn shall make the young men cheerful, and new wine the maids.
Verse 14, speaking of “the Lord… going forth as lightning”, brings this verse of Luke 17 to mind again:
Luk 17:24 For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day.
Here is the New Testament ‘condensed version’ of Zechariah 9:14-17:
Rev 18:20 Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her.
What a blessing it is to endure the coming of Christ to destroy the beast who supports the harlot which are both within us! What joy it is to “shout against [the great harlot]” and to witness “the vengeance of the Lord… upon her” within each of us.
Other related posts
- The Teaching of Rain and Archers (June 20, 2004)
- Book of Jeremiah - Jer 50:1-15 The Word the Lord Spake Against Babylon (September 17, 2022)