Book of Jeremiah – Jer 52:1-17 Nebuchadrezzar Burns Jerusalem with Fire
Jer 52:1-17 Nebuchadrezzar Burns Jerusalem with Fire
[Study Aired November 6, 2022]
Jer 52:1 Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
Jer 52:2 And he did that which was evil in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that Jehoiakim had done.
Jer 52:3 For through the anger of the LORD it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, till he had cast them out from his presence, that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.
Jer 52:4 And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it, and built forts against it round about.
Jer 52:5 So the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of king Zedekiah.
Jer 52:6 And in the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the famine was sore in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land.
Jer 52:7 Then the city was broken up, and all the men of war fled, and went forth out of the city by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king’s garden; (now the Chaldeans were by the city round about:) and they went by the way of the plain.
Jer 52:8 But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him.
Jer 52:9 Then they took the king, and carried him up unto the king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath; where he gave judgment upon him.
Jer 52:10 And the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes: he slew also all the princes of Judah in Riblah.
Jer 52:11 Then he put out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him in chains, and carried him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death.
Jer 52:12 Now in the fifth month, in the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, which served the king of Babylon, into Jerusalem,
Jer 52:13 And burned the house of the LORD, and the king’s house; and all the houses of Jerusalem, and all the houses of the great men, burned he with fire:
Jer 52:14 And all the army of the Chaldeans, that were with the captain of the guard, brake down all the walls of Jerusalem round about.
Jer 52:15 Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive certain of the poor of the people, and the residue of the people that remained in the city, and those that fell away, that fell to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude.
Jer 52:16 But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left certain of the poor of the land for vinedressers and for husbandmen.
Jer 52:17 Also the pillars of brass that were in the house of the LORD, and the bases, and the brasen sea that was in the house of the LORD, the Chaldeans brake, and carried all the brass of them to Babylon.
This last chapter is a recounting of the fall of Jerusalem and the judgment of Zedekiah, his family, the high priests and all the people around the king, and all the administrators of the state, at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar. Then it tells us that Nebuchadnezzar had Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, burn the temple and the king’s house and all the houses of Jerusalem. Then he tore down the walls of Jerusalem. Then it reviews the three different times Nebuchadnezzar carried the Jews away as captives to Babylon. This whole story of the judgment of Zedekiah typifies the judgment of Mystery Babylon the Great. It’s ‘Mystery Babylon’ because it is God’s own people who are being judged. The book of Revelation makes this very clear as it says ‘Babylon is the great city in which our Lord was crucified’ (Rev 11:8, Isa 1:21).
This chapter ends with Jehoiachin, the predecessor of Zedekiah, being brought up out of prison by Evilmerodach, Nebuchadnezzar’s son, and making Jehoiachin more prominent than any of the kings that were with him in Babylon.
All of this is far more than a mere historical account of how the Lord judged His apostate people. All of this happened to them, and it is written for our admonition, and there are many spiritual lessons for us in all these things that happened to them:
1Co 10:11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
1Co 10:12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
Let’s see what admonitions there are for us in all the details of the Lord’s judgment upon Zedekiah the king of apostate Judah and Jerusalem:
Jer 52:1 Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
Hamutal was one of the wives of righteous King Josiah who reigned for 31 years:
2Ch 34:1 Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years.
2Ch 34:2 And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the ways of David his father, and declined neither to the right hand, nor to the left.
Jeremiah’s prophecy began in the thirteenth year of Josiah’s reign, and we are told “Jeremiah lamented for Josiah” when King Josiah died at the hand of Pharaohnecho:
2Ch 35:25 And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah: and all the singing men and the singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations to this day, and made them an ordinance in Israel: and, behold, they are written in the lamentations.
Jer 1:1 The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests that were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin:
Jer 1:2 To whom the word of the LORD came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.
Josiah reigned 31 years, and Jeremiah’s prophecy began “in the thirteenth year of [Josiah’s] reign”. So, Jeremiah prophesied for 18 years under the rule of righteous King Josiah.
Josiah’s wife, Hamutal, was the mother of both Kings Jehoahaz and then later King Zedekiah, the last king of Judah. Jehoahaz was the first of Josiah’s sons to take the throne following the death of his father at the hands of Pharaohnecho, at Megiddo. Josiah had been a righteous king, but he had ignored the Lord’s word to him from Pharaohnecho, who did not want to fight with Josiah. Josiah insisted and paid with his life. The reign of Josiah’s son, Jehoahaz lasted a mere three months before he was dethroned by Pharaohnecho and replaced by another son of Josiah, who was a half-brother of Jehoahaz and Zedekiah:
2Ch 35:20 After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Necho king of Egypt came up to fight against Carchemish by Euphrates: and Josiah went out against him.
2Ch 35:21 But he [Pharaoh] sent ambassadors to him [King Josiah], saying, What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? I come not against thee this day, but against the house wherewith I have war: for God commanded me to make haste: forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that he destroy thee not.
2Ch 35:22 Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself, that he might fight with him, and hearkened not unto the words of Necho from the mouth of God, and came to fight in the valley of Megiddo.
2Ch 35:23 And the archers shot at king Josiah; and the king said to his servants, Have me away; for I am sore wounded.
2Ch 35:24 His servants therefore took him out of that chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had; and they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died, and was buried in one of the sepulchres of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.
2Ch 35:25 And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah: and all the singing men and the singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations to this day, and made them an ordinance in Israel: and, behold, they are written in the lamentations.2Ki 23:31 Jehoahaz was twenty and three years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
2Ki 23:32 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done.
The name of the son of Josiah, whom Pharaohnecho chose to replace Jehoahaz, was Eliakim, whose name Pharaohnecho changed to Jehoiakim:
2Ch 36:1 Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and made him king in his father’s stead in Jerusalem.
2Ch 36:2 Jehoahaz was twenty and three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem.
2Ch 36:3 And the king of Egypt put him down at Jerusalem, and condemned the land in an hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.
2Ch 36:4 And the king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and turned his name to Jehoiakim. And Necho took Jehoahaz his brother, and carried him to Egypt.
2Ch 36:5 Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD his God.
The mother of Josiah’s son, Jehoahaz, was Hamutal, but Jehoiakim’s mother was another wife of King Josiah:
2Ki 23:36 Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Zebudah, the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah.
These different mothers signify the different spiritual mothers of the churches of Mystery Babylon.
It was in the days of Jehoiakim, whose mother was Zebudah, that King Nebuchadnezzar came up against Judah and conquered Jehoiakim. Jehoiakim served Nebuchadnezzar for three years, and then he rebelled against Him:
2Ki 24:1 In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant three years: then he turned and rebelled against him.
So Jehoiakim had a different mother than Jehoahaz and Zedekiah, whose mother was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. Jehoiakim’s mother was another wife of King Josiah whose name was Zebudah, the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah. Jehoiakim was also an evil king whose reign was eleven years; the same number of years as his half-brother, Zedekiah, later reigned. Zedekiah was the last king of Judah. It was during the reign of Jehoiakim that Nebuchadnezzar came up against Jehoiakim and carried him away captive into Babylon, just as Jeremiah had prophesied and had warned King Jehoiakim would happen if Jehoiakim refused to submit to the king of Babylon. Typical of me and you, Jehoiakim refused the counsel of the Lord’s prophet, and he paid the price for doing so:
2Ch 36:6 Against him [Jehoiakim] came up Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and bound him in fetters, to carry him to Babylon.
2Ch 36:7 Nebuchadnezzar also carried of the vessels of the house of the LORD to Babylon, and put them in his temple at Babylon.
2Ch 36:8 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and his abominations which he did, and that which was found in him, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah: and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his stead.
Jehoiachin had learned nothing from his father Jehoiakim’s rebellious ways inasmuch as he, too, “did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord.”
2Ki 24:8 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. And his mother’s name was Nehushta, the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.
2Ki 24:9 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father had done.
Having witnessed what had happened to his father for ignoring Jeremiah’s admonition to “go out unto the princes of the king of Babylon” Jehoiachin was given the wisdom to follow Jeremiah’s words from the Lord, and thereby save his own life and spare the city:
2Ki 24:10 At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against Jerusalem, and the city was besieged.
2Ki 24:11 And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against the city, and his servants did besiege it.
2Ki 24:12 And Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his officers: and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his [Nebuchadnezzar’s] reign.
2Ki 24:13 And he carried out thence all the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king’s house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the LORD, as the LORD had said.
2Ki 24:14 And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valour, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths: none remained, save the poorest sort of the people of the land.
2Ki 24:15 And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, and the king’s mother, and the king’s wives, and his officers, and the mighty of the land, those carried he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon.
2Ki 24:16 And all the men of might, even seven thousand, and craftsmen and smiths a thousand, all that were strong and apt for war, even them the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon.
2Ki 24:17 And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah his father’s brother king in his stead, and changed his name to Zedekiah.
Jeremiah’s prophecies spanned 18 years of King Josiah’s thirty-one-year reign (2Kgs 22:1), the three-month reign of Jehoahaz, the eleven-year reign of Jehoiakim, the three-month reign of Jehoiachin, and the eleven-year reign of Zedekiah. We are not told when Jeremiah died, but we do know that he and Baruch were both taken into Egypt by Johanan after the assassination of Gedaliah whom Nebuchadnezzar had made governor to replace King Zedekiah. The eighteen years of prophesying under King Josiah, the three months under Jehoahaz, the eleven years under Jehoiakim, the three months under Jehoiachin, and the eleven years under Zedekiah add up to 40 1/2 years, besides the unspecified time spent with Gedaliah and Johanan.
Jehoiachin’s reign was the same length as that of his uncle, Jehoahaz. Jehoahaz was the first son of righteous King Josiah to assume the throne of his father. Both Jehoahaz and Jehoiachin reigned for a mere three months. Jehoiachin’s father, who replaced Jehoahaz, was Jehoiakim whose reign lasted eleven years before he was carried away captive to Babylon. Then Nebuchadnezzar replaced Jehoiachin with Jehoiachin’s uncle, his father’s half-brother, Mattaniah, whose name Nebuchadnezzar changed to Zedekiah.
The new king, Zedekiah, had heard all of Jeremiah’s prophecies concerning his brothers, Jehoahaz, and Jehoiakim and Jehoiakim’s son Jehoiachin. Zedekiah knew that Jeremiah had prophesied that the captivity would last seventy years. Therefore Zedekiah knew that Jeremiah had accurately prophesied the fate of each of his three predecessors, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim and Jehoiachin. Zedekiah also knew that Jeremiah has accurately prophesied the death of the false prophet, Hananiah. Hananiah had taken the yoke the Lord had told Jeremiah to wear off Jeremiah’s neck and had broken the yoke and contradicted what Jeremiah had been telling the people. The false prophet, Hananiah, was giving the people a false hope. The whole affair had been a very public event, and Zedekiah knew it all very well:
Jer 28:1 And it came to pass the same year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year, and in the fifth month, that Hananiah the son of Azur the prophet, which was of Gibeon, spake unto me in the house of the LORD, in the presence of the priests and of all the people, saying,
Jer 28:2 Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.
Jer 28:3 Within two full years will I bring again into this place all the vessels of the LORD’S house, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place, and carried them to Babylon:
Jer 28:4 And I will bring again to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, with all the captives of Judah, that went into Babylon, saith the LORD: for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.
Jer 28:5 Then the prophet Jeremiah said unto the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests, and in the presence of all the people that stood in the house of the LORD,
Jer 28:6 Even the prophet Jeremiah said, Amen: the LORD do so: the LORD perform thy words which thou hast prophesied, to bring again the vessels of the LORD’S house, and all that is carried away captive, from Babylon into this place.
Jer 28:7 Nevertheless hear thou now this word that I speak in thine ears, and in the ears of all the people;
Jer 28:8 The prophets that have been before me and before thee of old prophesied both against many countries, and against great kingdoms, of war, and of evil, and of pestilence.
Jer 28:9 The prophet which prophesieth of peace, when the word of the prophet shall come to pass, then shall the prophet be known, that the LORD hath truly sent him.
Zedekiah “did that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord”, yet he had no excuse for not listening to the words of the Lord through His proven prophet, Jeremiah.
This is what very publicly transpired in the fourth year of Zedekiah, and he knew exactly what had happened:
Jer 28:10 Then Hananiah the prophet took the yoke from off the prophet Jeremiah’s neck, and brake it.
Jer 28:11 And Hananiah spake in the presence of all the people, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all nations within the space of two full years. And the prophet Jeremiah went his way.
Hananiah knew his false prophecy of a two-year captivity would be more far more popular than Jeremiah’s seventy-year captivity prophecy. However, Hananiah’s presumptuousness failed to change the Lord’s mind, and He sent Jeremiah back to make another very public prophecy:
Jer 28:12 Then the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah the prophet, after that Hananiah the prophet had broken the yoke from off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, saying,
Jer 28:13 Go and tell Hananiah, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Thou hast broken the yokes of wood; but thou shalt make for them yokes of iron.
Jer 28:14 For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; I have put a yoke of iron upon the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they shall serve him: and I have given him the beasts of the field also.
Jer 28:15 Then said the prophet Jeremiah unto Hananiah the prophet, Hear now, Hananiah; The LORD hath not sent thee; but thou makest this people to trust in a lie.
Jer 28:16 Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will cast thee from off the face of the earth: this year thou shalt die, because thou hast taught rebellion against the LORD.
Jer 28:17 So Hananiah the prophet died the same year in the seventh month.
Zedekiah knew exactly how the Lord felt about anyone who “made this people to trust in a lie”, and he knew that Jeremiah was not about to tell a lie in the name of the Lord, and yet…
Jer 52:2 And he did that which was evil in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that Jehoiakim had done.
Jer 52:3 For through the anger of the LORD it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, till he had cast them out from his presence, that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.
Let’s reword that verse without adding anything to it or taking anything from it:
Jer 52:3 It came to pass through the anger of the Lord that Jerusalem and Judah, and her kings Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah, all rebelled against the king of Babylon until the Lord had cast them out from his presence.
However one arranges the phrases of this verse, there is no denying that what the Lord is telling us is that it all took place “through the anger of the Lord”. For that to be true it would all have had to have been predestined, and that is exactly what the holy spirit wants us to know.
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 seventy years before Jeremiah, but the Lord had not and has not lost His sovereign power. Here is another much earlier verse in which He reminds us that “[He] hath made all things for Himself, yes, even the wicked” [kings of Judah] “for [their] day of evil”… after the counsel of His own will”:
Pro 16:4 The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.
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:
Our will and our actions, good or evil, are His work in us, and the Lord wants us to be always aware of that wonderful Truth.
Php 2:12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
Php 2:13 For [G1063: gar, “assigning a reason”, ‘because’] it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.Heb 2:4 God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will
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.
The Lord has always worked all things “both to will and to do of His good pleasure”. He did so with all the kings of Israel and Judah, and He made all these things happen to them, and He had it all written for our admonition (1Co 10:11). It all happened to reveal just how stubbornly rebellious against the words of our Lord our old man is.
Jer 52:4 And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it, and built forts against it round about.
We are given all these details of the timing of Nebuchadnezzar’s campaign against Jerusalem for a reason. Look at where else we see this phrase “in the ninth year” in scripture, and notice that it was in “the ninth year’ of the king of Israel that “the king of Assyria took Samaria. The number ‘nine’ is always associated with judgment upon those being discussed:
2Ki 17:6 In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
It is the 99 sheep who thought they needed no repentance who will be judged for their self-righteousness:
Luk 15:7 I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.
There were also nine lepers who had no gratitude for what the Lord had done for them:
Luk 17:17 And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?
King Zedekiah, his two earlier brothers, and Jehoiakim’s son Jehoiachin, who preceded King Zedekiah were all of the same mind of the “ninety and nine just persons who [thought they] need[ed] no repentance”.
Here is a study on the spiritual significance of the number nine.
It was on “the ninth day of the month that the city of Jerusalem was broken up and taken by the princes of the Babylonians:
Jer 52:5 So the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of king Zedekiah.
The reigns of both evil kings Jehoiakim and Zedekiah were eleven years. This is also very instructive because the spiritual significance of the number eleven is the destruction and dissolution of all flesh. Here is the study on the number eleven.
Jer 52:6 And in the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the famine was sore in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land.
Jer 52:7 Then the city was broken up, and all the men of war fled, and went forth out of the city by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king’s garden; (now the Chaldeans were by the city round about:) and they went by the way of the plain.
Jer 52:8 But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him.
This is neither the way nor the reason we are commanded to “Come out of her My people” (Rev 18:4). The reason is that Babylon is still in the heart and mind of King Zedekiah and all his great men just as Sodom was still in the heart of Lot’s wife when she became a pillar of salt:
Jer 52:9 Then they took the king, and carried him up unto the king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath; where he gave judgment upon him.
We have already established that apostate Jerusalem signifies the “great harlot… Mystery Babylon the Great” (Isa 1:21), which brings this verse of scripture to mind as we are being given this story about the judgment of King Zedekiah, the king of apostate Judah and Jerusalem:
Jer 51:53 Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from me shall spoilers come unto her, saith the LORD.
That is exactly what Nebuchadnezzar did to Zedekiah and his apostate kingdom. Indeed, it is a very gory story, and it typifies the same thing which the story of the judgment of Jerusalem and its king typify. Both typify the destruction of “the great whore… Mystery Babylon the Great”.
As gruesome as it is, the Lord wants us all to know just how disgusted He is with those who cause His people to trust in a lie:
Jer 52:10 And the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes: he slew also all the princes of Judah in Riblah.
Jer 52:11 Then he put out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him in chains, and carried him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death.
We all, like Samson and King Zedekiah, and the apostle Paul, must first come to realize just how spiritually blind we are before we can begin to be used by the Lord and given to see the things of the spirit.
Jer 52:12 Now in the fifth month, in the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, which served the king of Babylon, into Jerusalem,
Jer 52:13 And burned the house of the LORD, and the king’s house; and all the houses of Jerusalem, and all the houses of the great men, burned he with fire:
It was in the fifth month, in the tenth day of the month that the house of the Lord and the king’s house were burned up with “unquenchable fire”:
Jer 7:20 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, mine anger and my fury shall be poured out upon this place, upon man, and upon beast, and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched.
Mat 3:12 Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.
While this is a fiery, miserable, and painful experience of evil, it works a work of grace through faith which is the spiritual significance of this all taking place in the fifth month. Here is the link to the study on the number five.
The number ten signifies the very best of the flesh, which is what the physical temple and houses of the king and all the great men of the Lord’s apostate people also signify. Here is the link to the study on the number ten.
Jer 52:14 And all the army of the Chaldeans, that were with the captain of the guard, brake down all the walls of Jerusalem round about.
Jer 52:15 Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive certain of the poor of the people, and the residue of the people that remained in the city, and those that fell away, that fell to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude.
Jer 52:16 But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left certain of the poor of the land for vinedressers and for husbandmen.
This is the verse that comes to mind when reading of all the apostate rich and established being replaced by the poor of the land:
Isa 66:2 For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.
Mat 5:2 And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,
Mat 5:3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 5:4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
Mat 5:5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
There is little or no difference between the poor in spirit and the meek, and both are promised the earth and the kingdom of heaven.
Jer 52:17 Also the pillars of brass that were in the house of the LORD, and the bases, and the brasen sea that was in the house of the LORD, the Chaldeans brake, and carried all the brass of them to Babylon.
‘Brass’ (which was really copper) is the best of the base metals and is the metal which was handled by the Levites who assisted the priests in ministering to the people. All the implements of the brazen altar, the brazen sea and all the water basins and even the socket at the door of the tabernacle were all made of copper and were essential to the ministry of the priests who ministered to the people in their worship of the Lord. It was all carried away to Babylon signifying how even Mystery Babylon is an instrument in the hand of the Lord to “bring us unto Christ”:
Gal 3:24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
Mystery Babylon has taken all the Lord’s gold, silver and precious stones and is using them to cover all her idols, and false doctrines. Every false doctrine is a perversion of the Lord’s golden and silver words.
2Ki 24:13 And he carried out thence all the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king’s house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the LORD, as the LORD had said.
As with “all things”, the Lord is working this judgment of His apostate people after the counsel of His own will. This entire event took place “through the anger of the Lord”, with no input from anyone. Every character was nothing more or less than an instrument in the Lord’s hands like clay in the hands of a Potter, and that is exactly what the Lord Himself tells us of His people:
Jer 18:1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
Jer 18:2 Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words.
Jer 18:3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.
Jer 18:4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
Jer 18:5 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
Jer 18:6 O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.
The Lord was using Nebuchadnezzar, whom He calls “My servant”, to judge His apostate people:
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.
As we consider the gruesome judgment the Lord pours out on Mystery Babylon, let’s remember that even that great harlot is a work of His hands out of whom we must all come:
Rev 18:3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.
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.
I pray we are all encouraged to know that even our sins and iniquities being the work of God tells us clearly that we are His workmanship, and that it is He who works in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure:
Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9 Not of [our own] works, lest any man should boast.
Eph 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.Php 2:12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
Php 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
What a comforting Truth to know!
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