The Book of Jeremiah - Part 21

So good evening again, everyone. As I said in the opening prayer, our last class on Jeremiah, of course, we haven't covered verse by verse every scripture in Jeremiah, but it is a time for a break with the feast coming on and with Trumpet's Atonement and then the Feast of Tabernacles. We hardly have time for the Bible studies, and as I said, we hope to maybe continue Bible studies in October. The subject matter is yet to be determined. So let's review a few things, and we're going to focus a lot on the last three chapters of Jeremiah this evening, but we have a lot of things we want to remember and review. I would encourage you to take notes, and it is my hope that you will follow up on these things, that you will personally study these things, look them up, go to various sources, and really be able to master the subject matter. So Jeremiah was called and chosen by God before he was born while he was yet in his mother's womb.

Jeremiah, of course, had a difficulty believing that he had been chosen by God and resisted a little bit at the first, but soon he came on board, and at an early age, probably around 20 years of age, give or take a year or two, he began his prophesying. He was commissioned to prophesy to the nations, not just to Israel and Judah, but the primary focus was on Israel and Judah. There are many, many lessons that we can learn from what Jeremiah went through fulfilling what he had been called to do. One of the things that becomes so apparent in reading what Jeremiah endured is the fact that God allows his servants to experience many trials and sufferings in fulfilling their mission. He was scorned by the people. He became a pariah, an outcast to society.

He was trying to help them. He was trying to get them to see what God was telling him to tell them. That is, to submit to the Babylonians and go there, and he would take care of them and restore them back in the land. But most of them decided to resist, especially the kings. We also get glimpses of Jeremiah's humanity and how he would become very discouraged, and at times he would cry out to God as we do. But through it all, Jeremiah kept on going. He gave us some of the most far-reaching and significant prophecies of the entire Bible.

The New Covenant prophecy, coupled with no need to say, where is the Ark of the Covenant? Solomon had put the Ark of the Covenant in the Restoration Temple, not the Restoration Temple, then Solomon's Temple. Solomon put the Ark of the Covenant in the Temple. 2 Chronicles 6, verses 10 and 11. Verse 11 clearly tells us that Solomon put the Ark of the Covenant in the Temple. According to some sources, 2 Maccabees says that Jeremiah hid the Ark of the Covenant. There's been a lot written, even a movie made, Raiders of the Lost Ark about where is the Ark of the Covenant today. Here I am reading from 2 Maccabees. You remember the Maccabees were the ones who gained a type of independence from the Seleucid Empire and from Antioch's Epiphanes during their time. There are books, intertestamental, between the two Testaments books by the Maccabees. In 2 Maccabees, the writer records that before Jerusalem's fall to Babylon, Jeremiah took the Ark of the Covenant, along with other sacred items, and hid them in a cave on a mountain outside of the city, and sealed the entrance. Though the mountain is not mentioned by name, it is described as the one from which Moses saw Canaan. Remember, before Moses died, God took him up on Mount Nebo, and he could view the land of promise, but was not allowed to go in because he struck the rock instead of doing what God had commanded him to do.

So, whether or not this is true, the writer of 2 Maccabees says he got this information from the Memoirs of Nehemiah. The Memoirs of Nehemiah is an unpublished sequel to the book of Nehemiah, which of course Nehemiah is part of the Canaanite Scripture, and there is no mention of hiding the Ark in the Bible book in the canon by Nehemiah. Another apocryphal book, the Paralym Mina of Jeremiah, claims that Jeremiah hid the Ark of the Covenant. Now, it's interesting if you look at Jeremiah 3 and verse 16. Jeremiah 3 verse 16, Jeremiah here refers to the Ark of the Covenant at a time in which people will not say, let's visit the Ark of the Covenant. So, Jeremiah 3 16 says that he came to pass, when you be multiplied and increased in the land in those days, says the Lord, they shall say no more, the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, neither shall it come to mind, neither shall they remember it, neither shall they visit it, neither shall that be done anymore.

So, of course, Jeremiah had the Ark of the Covenant on his mind at this time, and even prophesying that the time would come in which people no longer say the Ark of the Covenant. Now, we look at Jeremiah 31 and verse 31. Jeremiah 31 and verse 31, Behold, the days come, says the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenants I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, which my covenant they broke, though I was a husband unto them. So, the old covenant was called a marriage covenant. You know, at the present time, according to 2 Corinthians 10, verses 1-2 there, that we're now a spouse to Christ. And in Revelation 19 talks about the marriage supper of the Lamb in which we, the church, those in the first resurrection, will be married to Christ, although I was a husband unto them, says the Lord. This is a covenant that I will make with them. In those days, I will put my law in their inward parts, write them in their hearts, and will be their God, and they shall be my people. Now, when we covered this back when we covered Jeremiah 31, we turned to Hebrews 8, verse 10, and also chapters 8 and 10, where these words are recorded of writing the law of God in our inward parts. So, under the terms of the new covenant, we can have new hearts and new minds, a new context, a new knowing within.

Jeremiah also brought us the 70 years prophecy, which he prophesied that in Jeremiah 25, verses 20 through 26. Along in there, he prophesied that Judah would be in captivity in Babylon for 70 years. Then, we talked about how Daniel sought to understand, in Daniel chapter 9, Daniel sought to understand the 70 years prophecy, and he was given the 70 weeks prophecy.

And we talked about how the Jubilee was connected to a seven-year cycle, and also God's economic system in the year of release. Then Jeremiah prophesied of the Babylonian captivity, but he also prophesied of the restoration of Israel and Judah. As we already mentioned, God told Jeremiah to tell the people to submit to the Babylonians and to willingly go into captivity, and he would restore them back in the land. And he also, as we said, prophesied of the restoration. Jeremiah prophesied of the destruction of many nations, especially Moab. If we turn now to Jeremiah 48, we will be skipping through Jeremiah, maybe as you have noticed here this evening, in review and also new things as well, so hitting some of the highlights to begin with. Remember that Jeremiah was made a prophet to the nations. In Jeremiah 48 and 49, 50 and 51, he especially prophesied of the destruction of various nations, and in 50 and 51 especially the destruction of Babylon. So in Jeremiah 48, of all the nations that God is angry with, there are three that, above all, number one, which we'll get to, it seems to be Edom, probably number two is Moab, and probably number three is Ammon. Remember that Moab and Ammon were born as a result of Lot's incestuous conception with his daughters, and Moab and Ammon were born, and it is thought that modern-day Jordan is Moab and Ammon. There are some interesting things about Moab and Ammon that we shall see also in Daniel 11. So in Jeremiah 48 and verse 1, Jeremiah takes up this prophecy against many of the nations, beginning with Moab. Against Moab thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, woe unto Nebo, for it is spore. Carath-Jarem is confounded and taken. Miskab is confounded and dismayed. There shall be no more praise of Moab and Hebron. They have devised evil against it. Come and let us cut it off from being a nation. Also, you shall be cut down, O madmen, the sword shall pursue you. And it goes on talking about the destruction of Moab. So God has a lot to say about Moab and Ammon. If we go to Zephaniah now, in Zephaniah, one of the minor prophets, in chapter 2, Zephaniah is one of the few places in the Bible that tells us what is necessary to be hidden during the day of the Lord. Zephaniah is just before Haggai. In Zephaniah, chapter 2, gather yourselves together, O you together, O nation, not desired. Now that is, but church, before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as a chap, before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you, before the day of the Lord's anger come upon you. In chapter 1 of Zephaniah, it is dedicated to the day of the Lord. Seek you, the Lord, all you meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment. Seek righteousness, seek meekness, and it may be, you shall be hid in the day of the Lord's anger. One of the few verses that tell you, a couple with Revelation chapter 12 and verse 11, what you have to do in order to escape from what is coming upon the earth and the day of the Lord. Now you look at verse 8.

I have heard the reproach of Moab and the revelings of the children of Ammon or Ammon, whereby they have reproached my people and magnified themselves against their border. And it goes on talking about Moab's destruction as it does in Jeremiah's prophecy against Moab. Perhaps the people that God is most angry with is Edom. And we look at Isaiah 63, and Isaiah 63, and that is a chapter that we should be very familiar with.

Isaiah chapter 63. Who is this that comes from Edom with dyed garments from Basra? Basra was the principal city of Edom. I guess you could call Basra the capital of Edom with dyed garments. So this is Christ returning, and it seems like he starts with his punishment of Edom. This that is glorious in his apparel traveling in the greatness of his strength. I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Wherefore are you read in your apparel, and your garments like him that treads in the wine fat, similar to him treading the wine press. Verse 3 in Revelation 19. I have trodden the wine press alone, and of the people there was none with me. I will tread them in mine anger, trample them in my fury, and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment. For the day of vengeance is at hand in my heart, and the year of my recompense is come. So God begins, it seems, in Edom, punishing them. So Jeremiah prophesied against Moab and Ammon and Edom.

His prophecy closes with the prophecy against Babylon, chapters 50 and 51.

After the predictions of judgments to be inflicted upon other nations, then follows this prophecy against Babylon. The prophecies in Jeremiah 50 and 51 comprises well over a hundred verses about the destruction of Babylon and God's punishment of Babylon. The prophecy was in the fourth year of Zedekiah when Zeraiah, to whom it was committed, in other words, Jeremiah had Zeraiah to write this down. We look at Jeremiah 51-59, Jeremiah 51 and 59. I'm turning to these. Jeremiah 51 and 59.

The words which Jeremiah the prophet commanded, Zeraiah, the son of Neoriah, the son of Masiah, when he went with Zedekiah, the king of Judah into Babylon, in the fourth year of his reign. In this, Zeraiah was a quiet prince. Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evils that should come upon Babylon, even with all these words that are written against Babylon. In the fourth year of Zedekiah's reign, and Zedekiah reigned for 11 years, and Zeraiah wrote down the prophecy which we have.

In the prophecy, God gave Jeremiah against Babylon. This is very important to try to understand. The narrative weaves in and out between Babylon's destruction by the means of that day and the end of the age destruction of Babylon. God used Babylon to punish Judah and other nations. Now, at the end of the current evil age, the sixth dispensation, which is the church age, the age of grace, now God punishes Babylon. They are brought down by the Medo-Persian Empire. So we look at Isaiah 13. It's also in Jeremiah as well, but we're going to look at Isaiah 13 and verse 1, which talks about the Medes or the ones who comes against, and this is in secular history as well.

The Medes are the ones who comes against Babylon, and it seems to be at that time and also at the end time. So in Isaiah 13 and verse 1, the burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amaz or Amos did see, lift you up, lift you up the banner upon the high mountain, exalt the voice unto them, shake the land that they may go into the gates of the nobles.

I have commanded my sanctified ones. Hopefully each one of us sanctified I have commanded my sanctified ones. I've also called my mighty ones from mine anger, even them that rejoice in my highness. The noise of the multitude of the mountains like as of the great peoples, the monstrous noise of the kingdoms of nations, gathered together the Lord of hosts, musters the host of the battle. Now it seems like even the battle of Armageddon, though, as we'll read later in Revelation 16 verses 13-14, that the beast, the false prophet, and the devil are the ones that summon this army of the nations, drives up the river Euphrates to come to battle at Armageddon.

They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, even the Lord and the weapons of his ending nation to destroy the whole land. And it goes on talking about this verse 11, I will punish the world for their evil. Verse 13, therefore I will shake the heavens and the earth shall remove out of the place and the wrath of the Lord of hosts in the day of his fierce anger, and it shall be as the chaste row and as a sheep. Verse 17, behold, I will stir up the meads against them which shall not regard silver, and as for gold they shall not delight in it.

Verse 19, Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, beauty of the Caledas, excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. Now, this plays in and out with regard to the Battle of Armageddon and the defeat of Babylon back in the 500s BC. God, so God used Babylon to punish Judah and the nations.

Now God punishes Babylon. Now, the first verses of chapter 50 describe what Babylon has done to Israel and Judah, so we want to go there to Jeremiah 50 and verse 1. This is describing what Babylon has done to Israel and Judah, and God is going to bring the mead.

Cyrus is the one we shall talk about that in just a moment of how Babylon fell in overnight, as it were, as prophesied by Daniel in Daniel chapter 5 when Bel-Shazzar, Belted Shazzar, saw the handwriting on the wall. So chapter 50 verse 1, the word that the Lord spoke against Babylon against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet, declare you among the nations, publish and set up a standard, publish and conceal not say Babylon has taken. Bel is one of the gods.

It is a shortened form of Baal or Baal, B-A-A-L. Merdok, another one of the gods, is broken in pieces. Her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces. The two principal gods were Baal or Bel and Merodok. For out of the north there comes up a nation against her, which will make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein. And they shall remove, they shall depart both man and beast. In those days, and at that time says the Lord, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together going and weeping, they shall go and save the Lord their God.

Now what I told you, and this is very difficult because it weaves in and out from that contemporary time in which Jeremiah was prophesied that the Babylon of that day that had taken Judah captive would be defeated, and also the end time defeat and destruction of Babylon, the commercial mystic Babylon, the great system that rules over the kings of the earth, as it says in Revelation 18. Notice here in verse 3, for out of the north there comes up a nation against her. Now, as we'll read from Daniel chapter 11, that when the beast power begins to move and take over Jerusalem, he is troubled by news from the north and the east.

And when we read from Revelation 16 of Satan, the beast, and the false prophet drying up the river Euphrates to prepare the way for the kings of the north and the east, it's very similar. See, the initial destruction of Babylon by Cyrus and the Medes came from the east because Persia, modern-day Iran, and Medea were east of Babylon, not north of Babylon.

Now we read verse 4 again, in those days at that time says the Lord of the children of Israel shall come. They and the children of Judah together. See, this is an end-time restoration where Israel and Judah, as it talks about in Ezekiel 38, has made one stick going and weeping. They shall go and seek the Lord their God. They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thither toward, saying, Come and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten. Now, our people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have caused them to go astray. Of course, you can read about in Ezekiel 13 how the shepherds, the princes, the prophets of the day have not prepared the people for the day of the Lord. And surely, that is not being done today. One of the goals, one of the missions of the Church of God is to prepare the people for the day of the Lord, whether it comes in our day or not. We are ready, saying, Come and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten. My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have caused them to turn them away on the mountains. As I said, you can read of this in Ezekiel 13. They have gone from mountain to hill. They have forgotten their resting place. All that found them have devoured them. And their adversaries said, We offend not because they have sinned against the Lord. Of course, one of the things that's in the news today is the increased anti-Semitism in Europe and the United States. The habitation of justice, even the Lord, the hope of their fathers. Remove out of the midst of Babylon. Now, we have that commandment in Revelation 18 verse 3 to get out of Babylon. 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.

For lo, I will raise up and cause to come up against Babylon and assembly of great nations from the North Country. And they shall set themselves in array against her. From there, she shall be taken. Their arrow shall be as a mighty expert man. None shall return in vain.

Now, that is very similar to what is going to happen in the end times. Now, we want to go to Daniel, and we'll talk about the first destruction of Babylon under the hands of Cyrus. So, let's go to Daniel chapter 5. And Daniel covers this part about the destruction of Babylon when he's called on to interpret the dream or the vision, the handwriting on the wall, as seen by Belte Shazzar.

Daniel chapter 5. Daniel begins to interpret what Belte Shazzar saw.

We'll break in on the thought, verse 22, and you, his son, Belte Shazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this. Of course, Nebuchadnezzar, remember when he was taken out for seven years as a wild beast, he humbled himself and learned that the Most High God rules in the kingdom of man. But Bel Shazzar and his party here, they were drinking out of the vessels that were taken out of the temple and having a drunken festive affair. But you have lifted up yourself against the Lord of Heavens, and they have brought the vessels of his house before you, out of the temple. Of course, you know, Hezekiah had a role in that which he was mightily reprimanded for. And you and your Lord, your wives and your concubines have drunk wine in them, and have praised the gods of Severn goal of brass, of bell and maradoc, ironwood stone which see not nor hear nor know, and the God in whose hands your breath is, and whose are all your ways you have not glorified. Then was the part of the hand sent from him, and this writing was written. And this is the writing. Many, many, teckle you farce them. This is the interpretation. God has numbered your kingdom and finished it. Teckle your weight in the balance, near found wanting. Paris, the kingdom, is divided and given to the Medes and Persians. Then commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with scarlet and put a chain of gold about his neck, made a proclamation concerning him that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom. In that night, in that night, was Belshazzar the king, the Chaldeans slain, and Darius the Median took the kingdom, saying, being about 62 years old.

So how did they take the kingdom overnight while they were partying the the Medes and Persians were diverting the river Euphrates. See, there was Babylon, the chapel city, was between the two rivers, the Euphrates and the Tigris, and they had very high walls around the city of Babylon. They thought they had an impregnable fortress there, and so they were partying. They should have known that the Medes and the Persians were closing in on them, but Cyrus and his army were not very far away as they were feasting and frolicking and drinking out of the vessels from the temple, getting drunk and all that. So upstream of the Euphrates, Cyrus, remember Cyrus was given a decree that Judah could return under the leadership of Zerubbabel and Joshua the High Priest to rebuild the temple.

And so while Belshazzar and his party were feasting, the army of Cyrus was lowering the waters in the bed of the Euphrates preparatory to entering the city. And so as soon as the water has sufficiently subsided to allow the men to go in, they went into Babylon. They entered from opposite sides of the city, and their reckless feelings of security. The Babylonians were helpless. The Babylonians had left to open the gates meant to stop any underwater entry into the city. So I'm reading here from an account. So the Persians, once in the riverbed, easily entered the city through the open gates, and that night was Belshazzar slain, and the kingdom was given to Darius, the age king of the Medes, thus came to an end one of the proudest monarchies that has ever been upon the earth. And the fall of Babylon was a signal for the deliverance of the Jewish remnant. And then, of course, they, under the hand of Zerubbabel and Joshua, they came back, and they eventually rebuilt the temple. That decree by Cyrus was made in 538 BC. The temple was not dedicated until 520 BC. They really began in earnest to rebuild the temple in 520, and they dedicated in 515. So one of the things that they did, they somewhat dried up the Euphrates so that the army of Cyrus could go in. Now notice at the end time the destruction of Babylon, how that happens. Let's go now to Revelation 16 and the trumpet plagues.

Revelation 16 and the trumpet plagues.

The sixth plague, verse 12, the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates, and the water thereof was dried up. So the water was dried up by this angel, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. So this unholy triad are still in league just before the battle of Armageddon.

For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth, and of the whole world. Remember what we read from Jeremiah and other places about the whole world. Together them, we read that from Isaiah 13, together them to the battle of the great day of God of Almighty. Now in inset verse, Behold, warning to us, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watches, keeps his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue, Armageddon. And then in the seventh angel poured out his vial in the air, and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven from the throne, saying, It is done. There were voices and thunder and lightning, there was a great earthquake. Such was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great, 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 her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.

And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found, and there fell upon them a great hail out of heaven. Remember what we read that like Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed? God rained fire and brimstone from heaven upon Sodom and Gomorrah. He rained great hail out of heaven upon Babylon. Every stone about the weight of a talent and men blaspheme God, because the plague of the hail for the plague thereof was exceeding great. So God is the one who does the final destruction of Babylon.

Now, let's note now that of course a lot of people have done a lot of speculation of what city is Babylon. Currently, much speculation takes place regarding the identity of modern Babylon. Some tried to make it into Sodom, Hussein's Iraq. He was even rebuilding the hanging gardens of Babylon and saying he was going to restore Babylon to its glory that he had before it was destroyed. Of course, basically, people think that it's Rome, the revived Roman Empire. The Babylonian system as a whole, especially in the economic sense, like we read in Revelation 18, is a worldwide phenomenon. The economies of the world are linked together globally, and what happens in the stock market on Wall Street in New York City affects what happens in the stock market in London, in Frankfurt, in the cities of the world, in Beijing, in Japan, and so on.

The bio of the Babylonian system is now a worldwide phenomenon. The economies of the world are linked together through the World Trade Organization and by other organizations and treaties. But let's look at this from the Bible, what does the Bible say with regard to where the beast places his headquarters? I was in a Bible study in Sydney, Australia back in the year 2000, in which I read the verses I'm about to read and said, the beast plants its his headquarters in the Holy Land, and one of the members says, oh no, that can't be.

That's not in the Bible, but yes, it is in the Bible. So now we go to Daniel chapter 11 and verse 41. Daniel 11 and verse 41. Daniel 11 verse 41, one of the longest prophecies in the Bible, he shall enter also into the glorious land. Glorious land is what we call the Holy Land, the environs of Jerusalem, and many countries shall be overthrown, but these shall escape. Remember these? These shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, Moab, and Ammon, the three countries that God has the greatest anger toward.

I didn't read all of the virtually every prophet, not everyone, but basically every prophet in the Bible has a prophecy that God gave him against Edom. But these three, Edom, Moab, and Ammon, shall escape. Now it is thought that Moab and Ammon is modern Jordan, and Edom would be the area of Mount Sinai and Petra down in the wilderness part of the land. In 1988, my wife and I, and along with some from headquarters there in Pasadena, visited Petra.

Also we visited Jordan in Israel. So these three, the three that God has the most anger against, escape out of the hands of the beast power. But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver and over all the precious things of Egypt and the Libyans and the Ethiopians. Libya is just to the west, Ethiopia is to the east. Shall be at his steps, but tidings out of the east and out of the north. Tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him.

Therefore he shall go forth with fury to destroy and utterly to make away, and he shall plant the tabernacle of his palace between the seas, that is, between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea, in the glorious holy mountain. Jerusalem is on a mountain. You wouldn't really know it's at 3000 feet when you visit there. We also went to Jerusalem in the glorious holy mountain, yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.

Now you look at Revelation chapter 11, and we will see that at the end of the age, Jerusalem becomes as Sodom and Gomorrah. In Revelation chapter 11, we have the two witnesses coming on the scene. In verse 7, Revelation 11, 7, And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them and kill them, 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.

Now Jerusalem is not destroyed. So, Jerusalem, based on what we read from Revelation 16 of how Babylon the Great is destroyed by God with great hailstones, the weight of a talent, that God places his headquarters in Jerusalem. We look at Isaiah chapter 2, verses 1 through 4. Isaiah chapter 2, my favorite millennial scripture. Isaiah chapter 2, verse 1. The word that Isaiah the son of Amos saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem, that it shall come to pass in the last days that the mountains of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow into it.

And many shall come and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths, where out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. Sometimes Zion and Jerusalem are used in parallelism as the same place. Of course, Zion figuratively pictures the church, as we know, from Hebrews chapter 12.

Now look at Zechariah chapter 14, where when Christ comes again, there is going to be a great earthquake, which we seemingly ignore in talking about this.

So look at Zechariah 14 and verse 1. Behold, the day of the Lord comes, and your spoil shall be divided in the midst of all of you, for I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle, as we read from Revelation 16. And the city shall be taken, the houses rifled, the women ravished. Half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall be cut off from the city. Then shall the Lord go forth and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle, and his feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives. Now I've stood upon the Temple Mount, and I've looked over to the east, and now you see the Mount of Olives. You see the little white tombstones on the Mount of Olives, and I asked the guy, what are those little white dots? He says those are tombstones of the Jews who really hope to be buried on the Mount of Olives, so when the resurrection takes place, they will have a head start. Of course, we know that's not the way it is. Which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall cleave, his feet shall stand on the Mount, which is before Jerusalem, just to the east. There's a valley in between Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives. And the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west.

So some of us are going to move toward the Mediterranean, some of us are going to move toward the Dead Sea. Dead Sea to the east, Mediterranean to the west. There should be a very great valley, and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north and half of it toward the south.

And you shall flee to the valley of the mountains, for the valley of the mountain shall reach into Azal or Azal. Yes, you shall flee like you fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah, and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with you shall come to pass, and that day the light shall not be clear nor dark, but it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord not day nor night, but it shall come to pass that at the evening time it shall be light. And in that day living waters shall go out from Jerusalem, half of them toward the former sea, half of them toward the hinder sea, in summer and in winter shall it be. Toward the Mediterranean and toward the Dead Sea, and the Lord shall be king over all the earth, and that day shall there be one Lord in his name, one. And then verse 12, and the land and this land shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem like the Battle of Armageddon that we read in Revelation 16. Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, like you read in Revelation 19, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouths. And it shall come to pass in that day that a great tumult from the Lord shall be among them, and they shall lay hand everyone on the hand of his neighbor, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbor. And Judah shall fight at Jerusalem, and the wealth of the nations round about shall be gathered together, gold and silver, and apparel. And I won't read the the rest of it. So we see how Babylon comes to its destruction. In Revelation 16, we see how the beast comes to its destruction in Revelation 16, and also in Zechariah 14. Of course, there are other places as well.

So now we go back to Jeremiah. We have essentially covered that chapter 15, I mean 50, and now we'll go to 51.

I encourage you to read, of course, 50 and 51 in entirety. Hopefully you already have. And so in Jeremiah chapter 50, I want to turn there. As I said, I'm turning to all these scriptures tonight. And some nights I have used the internet, but tonight I'm turning to it with you. Hopefully you're turning. In Jeremiah chapter 51, some of this will be reviewed as we have covered this already in the various places that we have gone. But let's see how Jeremiah closes this. The best says, The Lord, behold, I will raise up against Babylon and against them that dwell in the midst of them that rise up against me a destroying wind, and will send into Babylon fanners that shall fan her and shall empty her land. For in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about. And so we read about Babylon being destroyed by God and that all nations come to fight at the day of Armageddon. Verse 7, Babylon had been a golden cup. Now this is similar to Revelation 17. Babylon had been a golden cup in the Lord's hand that made all the earth drunk. The nations have drunken of her wine. It's also similar to Revelation 18, where all the nations have participated in the commerce and the trade of Babylon. Verse 8, Babylon has suddenly fallen. See, in one hour, as it says in Revelation 18, her destruction comes when you start raining hailstones that the size of a talent won't last long. It sinks into the sea. Babylon has suddenly fallen and destroyed. Howl for her! Take balm for her pain! If so be, she may be healed. We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed. Persake her and let us go everyone into his own country for her judgment reaches. Under heaven is lifted up even in the skies. The Lord has brought forth our righteousness. Come and let us declare in Zion the work of the Lord our God. And we read Isaiah 2 in verse 4, where out of Zion shall go forth the law and out of Jerusalem.

Make bright arrows, gather the shields, the Lord, and raise up the spirit of the kings of the meads. And we read Isaiah 13 about that, for his device is against Babylon to destroy it because it is the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance of his temple. You see, when Babylon destroyed God's temple, when Babylon came upon God's people, of course, God permitted it, and he used Babylon to do it. But at the same time, they did. They treated the people beyond what God wanted them to do. See, it was only it was Cyrus the Great, the Medes and the Persians, who issued the decree that Judah could return to the Promised Land. It was Darius the Mede who actually was the captain of the army that took Babylon. Verse 12, set up the standard upon the walls of Babylon, make the watch strong. Set up the watchman, prepare the ambushes, for the Lord hath both devised and done that which he spoke against, the inhabitants of Babylon. And as we talked about in that first destruction of Babylon, Cyrus and his or Darius and his army, they diverted the river Euphrates, and the water level that was protecting Babylon came low enough that the soldiers from the Medes could go under the gates into the city. And Belshazzar was slain that very night that he had the great party, drinking out of the vessels from the temple. Then it goes on talking about Babylon. Look at verse 17. Every man is brutish by his knowledge, every founder is confounded by the graven image, for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. They are vanity, the work of eras in the time of their visitation. They shall perish. Now in contrast, a portion of Jacob is not like them, for he is a former of all things. See, Jacob, Israel, and Jacob's name was changed to Israel, and Israel is a rod of his inheritance. Remember, Jacob's name was changed to Israel, though Israel is in italics here. We know that it is Israel, meaning prince with God. Israel is the rod of the inheritance. The Lord of hosts is his name. And that Israel, as we read about, and we had time, of course, we would go into this, but you know, we cover the epistle of Paul. We'll do it when we do Romans 9, that they are not all of Israel, which are of Israel. That is a verse from Romans chapter 9. Sounds like a contradiction. But remember, from Galatians chapter 3, who is an Israelite? If you be in Christ, then are you Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise? So the Israel of God is the ultimate heir to the promise. Now, that doesn't mean that the church has replaced Israel as a nation, because in the millennium Israel will be the model nation, as we read from the last verse of Zechariah 8. In that day, out of the languages of all the nations, they'll grab hold of the skirt of a Jew and say, we have heard that your God is with you. We want to go with you. We want to know about this God. Then verse 20, you are my battle axe and weapons of war, for with you will I break the pieces of the nations? And we read from Zechariah 14, that last verse we read, I think it was, and with you will I destroy the kingdoms that Judah fights that day of the Lord when God takes over Jerusalem again.

Verse 30, the mighty men of battle, the mighty men of Babylon have foreborn to fight. They have remained in their holes. Their might has failed. They become as women. They have burned her dwelling places. Her bars are broken. One post shall run to meet another, one messenger to meet another, to show the king of Babylon that his city is taken at one end, and that the passages are stopped, and the reeds that have burned with fire and the men of war are affrighted. For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, the daughter of Babylon, is like a threshing floor. It is time to thresh her yet a little while, and the time of her harvest shall come. And so Babylon was destroyed, as we have seen here, and then there's coming this great restoration. We pick it up in 52 again.

Wherefore, behold, the days come, says the Lord, that I will do judgment upon her graven images, and through all her land, and the wounded shall grow. Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she fortify the height of her strength, yet from me shall spoilers come unto her, says the Lord. A sound of cry comes from Babylon and great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans. And we have talked about how that Darius diverted the waters of the Euphrates, and the army of Darius marched in and conquered the city. And we've talked about Revelation 16, and the rivers, the river Euphrates, is dried up, preparing the way of the kings of the east, and God destroys Babylon. So now we go to verse 60. So Jeremiah wrote in a book, All the Evil That Should Come Upon Babylon. Even all these words that are written against Babylon, the Jeremiah said to Zariiah, When you come to Babylon, and shall see, and shall read all these words, then shall you say, O Lord, you have spoken against this place, to cut it off, that none shall remain in it, neither man nor beast, but that it shall be desolate forever. Now the Babylon that was destroyed during the days of Jeremiah, when Judah was returning, after Judah returned, that Babylon was not destroyed forever. But the Babylon that is going to be destroyed at the end of the age, as we read from Revelation 16, is destroyed forever, and never shall be inhabited again. And it shall be when you have made an end of reading this book, that you shall bind a stone to it, and cast it in the midst of Euphrates. And you wonder, well, how do we have it? Obviously, you kept a copy. And you shall say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise from that evil, that I will bring upon her, and they shall be weary. Thus far are the words of Jeremiah. So that closes the words of Jeremiah. Now, chapter 52, what is an addendum that was probably written by Ezra. Ezra was the one who gathered the books of the Old Testament, and probably is the one who canonized the Old Testament to a large degree. Back in the early 80s, I taught a course—well, it was more like the mid-80s—that I taught a course in fundamentals of theology. One of the segments that Mr. Armstrong wanted us to teach after he had closed down a class in Pasadena called Systematic Theology, taught by the Greek scholar, he closed that class, and fundamentals took its place, took its place, the class that I taught. And we focused on the canonization. Probably Ezra canonized the Old Testament, that is, he gathered the books of the Old Testament. It was finally canonized and decided by the Jews at the Council of—and the word escapes me at this moment I had it in my mind—just Jamnia at the Council of Jamnia. So there we have Jeremiah. And what Ezra does here, probably Ezra doesn't say for sure, but that's what virtually all of the scholars—in fact, everyone that I've read—believe that Ezra wrote Jeremiah 52. So that concludes our study of Jeremiah.