16 Will the Bad Guys Get What’s Coming to Them? (Jeremiah 50:1-20)

Krisan Marotta: Welcome to the Wednesday in the Word podcast. I'm Krisan Marotta. This is the 16th and final talk in our series on the book of Jeremiah. Today we'll be in chapter 50, verses 1 through 20. If you'd like to follow along with the lecture notes, you'll find them on our website at wednesdayintheword.com slash Jeremiah 16. Thanks so much for listening and sticking with us to the end. Does it ever seem to you like the good guys are drowning while the bad guys are flourishing? Especially in the business world, it seems like those who lie and cheat and play both sides of the table always seem to prosper and they get the promotions and get away with it. While those who play by the rules and take care not to step on anyone else's toes, they get left behind and move to the back of the line. Well, the last time we were in Jeremiah, we were in chapter 38 and we talked about how doing the right thing sometimes leads to punishment. And that raises the question, what about all the people doing the punishing? When do all those wrongs get put right? So when the Babylonians destroy our city or we get thrown into a cistern of mud, what happens to the guys who are doing the destroying and the throwing? Will the bad guys get what's coming to them? Will justice be done? And that's the question we're going to look at today from Jeremiah. This is our last one in the book. And just, I'm sure hopefully this is reviewed by now, but you'll recall that when the Assyrians descended into civil war, Jeremiah began his ministry. And God called him in that political turmoil because Babylon and Egypt were both vying to take over the power vacuum that Assyria left behind, and little Judah sat right in the middle of them. And in the midst of all that, God calls Jeremiah and gives him the message tell the people Babylon's going to win. They're going to come in and in and level Jerusalem and take the people into exile, but also that they will be restored. So his main message is Babylon's going to destroy Jerusalem because of the sin and rebellion of the people, but they will be restored. The exile will end. So if you were living in Jerusalem during all this time, you might be asking, okay, Jeremiah's running around saying, we're going to get judged. Well, what about Babylon? They're the bad guys after all. What about them? Are they just going to get to destroy the holy city of God and then go their merry way? Well, the last chapters of Jeremiah speak to that question. So, in fact, chapters 46 to 51 deal with all the enemies of Israel. Well, not all, but a good list of them. And they talk about what's going to happen to them. And that's over 20% of the book. And most of the prophetic books have a similar section where the prophets call out the other nations and the other tribes. They're called the oracles against the nations, if you run into that term in commentaries. And Jeremiah deals with 10 different nations in those last six chapters, and it's like a who's who of Israel's enemies. So chapter 46 deals with Egypt, 47 with the Philistines, 48 with Moab, 49 with a bunch of people, Amnon, Edom, Damascus, a few Arab tribes, and Elam, and then the last two chapters, 50 and 51, deal with Babylon. Babylon gets almost as many verses as all the other nations combined. So if you're hearing this while you're living in Jerusalem and Jerusalem's under siege, these are the bad guys that are camped around your gates. And if you're reading this while you're already in exile, these are the people holding you captive. So in either case, when you start hearing these prophecies, they would sound like really good news. It's like, yay, they're finally going to get theirs in the end. The bad guys are going to get what's coming to them. But then almost in the same breath, we start to feel guilty and go, um, you know, right along with that, yeah, it's about time they get it, this guilt creeps in of is it okay to want them to get theirs in the end? So we're actually going to deal with two questions today. Will the bad guys get what's coming to them? And is it okay to want that to happen? And we're going to be looking at Jeremiah chapter 50, verses 1 through 20, and this is really only the beginning of the larger oracle. The whole thing runs through the end of chapter 51. And in fact, in the first draft of my homework, I had you studying the entire two chapters, but I decided that was too much to ask. So you're welcome. I shortened it to the first 20 verses. Because you'll get the main themes and you'll get the flavor. But just realize we're not covering the entire section. So contextually, we really should be looking at the whole two chapters. So I'm going to go over the passage quickly today, and then we're going to spend most of our time dealing with the issues that it raises. Because the text itself is fairly straightforward. It has two main themes. God is going to judge Babylon. That's the first theme. God's going to judge Babylon. And the second one, God is going to restore Israel. And those should be familiar themes to us. Well, judging Babylon's new, but God restoring Israel should be familiar. And that's the main point, I think, of these oracles. God's going to judge Babylon and He's going to restore his people. So let's look, go through the sections. Look at Jeremiah 50, verses 1 through 3. We're going to start there. The word which the Lord spoke concerning Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans, through Jeremiah the prophet. Declare and proclaim among the nations, proclaim it and lift up a standard. Do not conceal it, but say, Babylon has been captured, Bel has been put to shame, Marduk has been shattered, her images have been put to shame, her idols have been shattered. For a nation has come up against her out of the north. It will make her a land an object of horror, and there will be no inhabitant in it. Both man and beast have wandered off, they have gone away. Okay, so one of the first questions this passage raises is why is it in the past tense? So Jeremiah is writing about the fall of Babylon. It's in his future from his perspective. When he's speaking this, this has not happened, so why are we why do we have this in the past tense? Well, properly speaking, ancient Hebrew does not have a past tense. If none of their tenses are the same as ours. So modern Hebrew does have a past tense, but biblical Hebrew has different categories altogether. However, they have something that we usually translate with the past tense in English. So it's right and correct for the translators to pick the English past tense here. And they do it, and the Hebrew uses this tense, it's quite common actually in prophecy, when they're predicting something in the future to have it in the past tense, because they're trying to express the certainty with which it will happen. So the events are in the author's future, but they use the equivalent of past tense to say, this is so certain, God has said it, it will be done, it's as if it already happened. Because thus says the Lord, it might as well be in the past tense. He's already, it's so certain it's going to happen. So that's the idea behind, and you'll see this frequently in the old in the prophetic books. They're predicting something in the future, but it's in the past tense because they want to say it's as good as done. So in verse 2, he says, Babylon's gods will be put to shame. Bel was a title for their storm god, Marduk was the chief god of their pantheon, and they're going to be humiliated. And then he tells us this undefined nation will come at Babylon from the north, making her desolate, driving out all her inhabitants. And we know from history that it is the united Mede and Persian Empire that will conquer Babylon, and that Persia lies to the east. So critics of the Bible like to pick on that and say, oh, look, see, that's a contradiction. But the strategic route to attack Babylon was from the north, and I think that's what he's referring to here: the route of attack, not the geography of the conquering nation. So having announced that Babylon is going to be judged, he then turns to his other main theme: Israel's going to be restored. Look at verses four and five. In those days and at that time, declares the Lord, the sons of Israel will come. Both they and the sons of Judah as well. They will go along, weeping as they go, and it will be the Lord their God they will seek. They will ask for the way to Zion, turning their faces in its directions. They will come that they may join themselves to the Lord in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten. So both Israel and Judah will repent. They're going to turn back to the Lord, seeking God, seeking the way back to Zion, which is just a term for the land of Israel, or sometimes a term for Jerusalem, depending on the context. And they, but they, either case, they want to be back in the land and they want a relationship with their God. Now, in those days, in verse 4, it is very vague. We've talked about this term before. It has no specific time frame. It is vague and general, and the context determines what's in view. And scholars are pretty divided on this. Some think that he is referring only to the end of the exile, but others think that he is referring to the end of the exile and to the end of the age. So the future return when the at the final restoration in the Messianic Age, when Jesus comes again, because there's this reference to an everlasting covenant, they see this as looking past the first kind of immediate fulfillment in uh 539 BC to the final and ultimate fulfillment when Jesus returns. And I I don't know. I think at least it's referring to the immediate fulfillment in the end of the exile, and there's some good arguments that it's looking farther into the future as well. So going on in that section six through eight, my people have become lost sheep, their shepherds have led them astray, they have made them turn aside on the mountains, they have gone along from the mountain to the hill, and have forgotten their resting place. All who came upon them have devoured them, and their adversaries have said, We're not guilty, and as much as they have sinned against the Lord, who is the habitation of righteousness, even the Lord, the hope of their fathers, wander away from the midst of Babylon, and go forth from the land of Chaldeans, be also like male goats at the head of the flock. So he reviews the Lord scattered them, he sent them into exile because of their rebellion, because they had bad shepherds leading them astray. But now that exile is ended, they can wander away, they can go forth, they can leave Babylon, and the images he uses is when you open a sheep pen and the gate first opened, it is the frisky male goats that would rush in crowd to get be the first ones out. And so that's the image he's using. Be eager, joyously kind of go eagerly go forth and return to your land. And then 9 through 12, for behold, I'm going to arouse, and he's going back to his first theme now of this is what's coming for Babylon. For behold, I'm going to arouse and bring up against Babylon a horde of great nations from the land of the north, and they will draw up their battle lines against her. From there she will be taken captive. Their arrows will be like an export warrior who does not return empty handed. Chaldea will become plunder. All who plunder her will have enough, declares the Lord. Because you are glad, because you are jubilant, you who pillage my heritage, because you skip about like a threshing heifer and neigh like stallions, your mother will be greatly ashamed. She who gave birth will be gave you birth will be humiliated. Behold, she will be the least of the nations, a wilderness, a parchland, and a desert. So he's saying, Babylon's gonna get theirs, she's gonna be plunder, she's gonna be wiped out, it's gonna be no arrow's gonna miss its mark. And the reference to mother in verse 12 is most likely their capital city. So he's talking about the city of Babylon, not the whole land of Babylonia, but the city of Babylon. He's not talking about a person, but their capital city is gonna be humiliated. So, like saying London is the mother of England or DC is the mother of our country, it's that kind of a metaphor. And then 13 through 16, because of the indignation of the Lord, she will not be inhabited, but she will be completely desolate. Everyone who passes by Babylon will be horrified and will hiss because of her words. That's kind of a reference to like you walk by and you see something terrible and you kind of whistle like, wow, that's the idea behind that hissing at her wounds. Drop your battle lines against Babylon on every side, all you who bend the bow, shoot at her, do not be sparing with your arrows, for she has sinned against the Lord. Raise your battle cry against her on every side. She has given herself up, her pillars have fallen, her walls have been torn down, for this is the vengeance of the Lord. Take vengeance on her, as she has done to others, so do to her. Cut off the sower from Babylon, and the one who wields the sickle at the time of harvest. From before the sword of the oppressor, they will each turn back to his own people, and they will flee to his own land. Essentially, we get this picture of everything, the horrible atrocities Babylon committed to other nations are now going to come back to her. So the plunder, the pillaging, the destroying, all the things she did. And if you read about history, Babylon, when they conquered a nation, they were they were mer vicious. There was no mercy. So now it's all going to come on back to them in turn, and the evil she inflicted on others will now be inflicted on her. And then finishing our sections 17 through 20, Israel, going back to what about Israel? Israel is a scattered flock, the lions have driven them away. The first one who devoured him was the king of Assyria, and the last one who has broken his bones is Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I'm going to punish the king of Babylon and his land, just as I punished the king of Assyria, and I will bring Israel back to his pasture, and he will graze on Carmel and Bashem, and his desire will be satisfied satisfied in the hill country of Ephraim and Gilead in those days and at that time, declares the Lord, search will be made for the iniquity of Israel, but there will be none, and for the sins of Judah, but they will not be found, for I will pardon those whom I leave as a remnant. So again he returns in those closing verses to the theme that Israel is going to be restored, Assyria is going to be wiped out because she wiped out the northern tribes, Babylon will be wiped out because she wiped out the southern tribes, and Israel's going to be restored and brought back to the land and restored to her relationship with her God. Now, obviously, we're stopping in the middle, that the oracle continues through the end of chapter 51. I just wanted to give you a flavor of it. And the two main themes: God's going to judge Babylon and he will restore Israel. But immediately we have a historical problem. Because we know from history that when Babylon fell and the people of Israel were set free, there was no battle. And yet we have verse 9 for behold, I'm stirring up and bringing against Babylon a gathering of great nations. They shall array themselves against her. The arrows of a skilled warrior will not return empty-handed. So that sounds like a great battle. And then 13 and 14, because of the wrath of the Lord, she will not be inhabited, but she'll be in utter desolation. Everyone who passes by her will be appalled, and then set yourself in array against Babylon, all you who bend the bow, shoot at her, spare no arrows. So we've got this picture of this atrocity, this calamity that's going to come on Babylon, and we know from history that when Cyrus entered the city, it was as a liberator. They practically gave him a parade. He was welcomed. The people didn't have to flee. There was no big battle. The walls remained intact, the city remained intact, the inhabitants were allowed to stay there. In fact, Holman's Bible dictionary summarizes it like this. This is a quote In 539 BC, the Persian city the Persian Cyrus II entered Babylon without a fight. Thus ended Babylon's dominant role in Near Eastern politics. So what are we to do with that? Jeremiah predicts this big catastrophic battle. History tells us the city fell without a fight. Well, some of you may remember, we have already studied the clue to this answer. Remember our lesson on Jeremiah 18 when Jeremiah went to the potter's house. Some of this, I know it was a long time ago, but the Lord took Jeremiah on a little field trip and he had him watch a potter at work. And in 1804, he tells us that Jeremiah saw the potter squash the clay and then start over because the vessel he was making was spoiled. So we have this visual metaphor that that particular clay that lay on the wheel was not suitable for the particular pot the potter was making. And he can and did start over with something new as it pleased him to make. And then the Lord explains the significance of what Jeremiah is seeing, and he says he will change his plans if his people change their behavior. So remember this is Jeremiah 18, verses 7 and 8. If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do it. So remember we talked about how when they change their behavior, God changes his actions, he responds to their response. So a lump of clay doesn't change its behavior, it's passive, it can't stop resisting. So the potter doesn't have to respond to the clay because the clay doesn't change or repent, but God's people can repent. They're not inanimate objects. They're individuals who make decisions, they respond to their creator, their creator responds to them. So the analogy of the potter and the clay is partly to show how God's relationship to his people is similar to the potter and the clay. He has the right and the same authority to relate to them in the same way the potter does. But when they change their behavior, God can change his actions and their responses. So, what do we know about Babylon? Did they ever repent in any way? Did they turn from their evil ways? Well, it just so happens. Turn to Daniel 4. Because in Daniel 4, we get this very interesting story about the greatest king of Babylon, King Nebuchadnezzar, who was actually named in the passage we just read. And so this will probably be familiar to some of you. I'm going to read Daniel 4, starting in verse 28. All this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar. At the end of twelve months, he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon. And the king answered and said, Is not this great Babylon which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty? While the words were still in his mouth there fell a voice from heaven, O King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken, the kingdom has departed from you, and you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with beasts of the field, and you shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and seven periods of time shall pass over you until you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will. Immediately the word was fulfilled against Nebuchadnezzar, he was driven from among men and ate grass like an ox, and his body was wet with dew, the dew of heaven, till his hair grew as long as eagle's feathers, and his nails were like bird's claws. So here we have the King Nebuchadnezzar, the greatest king in Babylonian history. He's strutting along his rooftop, he's all puffed up with arrogance, he looks across the city and says, Look what I did. This is all the work of my hands. I built this magnificent kingdom with my might and my hands. And the Lord says, Not so fast. And judges him. He takes away the kingdom from him, he goes mad for about seven years, but that's not the end of the story. Pick up in verse thirty-four. And notice this is in first person. At the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honored him who lives forever, for his dominion is an everlasting kingdom, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven, among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand or say to him, What have you done? At the same time my reason returned to me, and for the glory of my kingdom my majesty and splendor returned to me, my counselors and my lords sought me, and I was established in my kingdom, and still more greatness was added to me. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, for all his works are right, and his ways are just, and those who walk in pride he is able to humble. Well, that sounds pretty repentant to me. So after his period of madness, the greatest king in Babylonian history has learned something about the God of Israel. For all his works are right, all and his ways are just, and those who walk in pride, he is able to humble. So that kind of repentance at least opens the door to God changing his plan and relenting on the total disaster he. Had planned. Remember Jeremiah 18, 7 and 8. If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, and if that nation concerning which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I had intended to do it. So I think Nebuchadnezzar repented, and God was merciful in his judgment against Babylon. So Babylon still fell, the kingdom was still conquered, but the way it came about was much more gentle, if you will, or merciful than the way God originally predicted. So the kings of Judah could have learned something from King Nebuchadnezzar. Alright, so that's kind of a quick overview of the passage and the issues it raises, but now let's return to our original question. Will the bad guys get what's coming to them? And is it okay for me to want that to happen? So, yes, the end the short answer is Babylon, Assyria, and all the nations in 46 through 51 are going to get judged. So the short answer is yes, the bad guys are going to get punished. They will get what's coming to them. Babylon falls, their kingdom is no more, it becomes part of the Mede Persian Empire, and the Jews get to go home. So am I supposed to cheer for that? Is it okay to want that? Well, let's talk about what are we wanting. When we say we want the bad guys to get what's coming to them, what are we asking God to do? Look at Jeremiah 50, 15 again. Raise a shout against her all around, for she has surrendered, her bulwarks have fallen, her walls are thrown down, for this is the vengeance of the Lord. Take vengeance on her, do to her as she has done. And then these two verses we didn't read, but 51.24, but I will repay Babylon and all the habitants of Chaldea for all their evil that they have done in Zion before your eyes, declares the Lord. And in 5135, may the violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon, the inhabitants of Zion will say, and may my blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, Jerusalem will say. So we get this idea of vengeance, repayment, and the things they did to me be done to them. So they're asking for vengeance. They're asking, may the things that they did to me or to others now be done to them. And this is kind of a classic example of Old Testament judgment. This is the eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. But a lot of people misunderstand that. We think that's the idea behind an eye for an eye or a tooth for a tooth is it limits the retribution. It doesn't escalate it. So the punishment is to fit the crime. So you destroy my country, I want your country destroyed. Babylon's going to be plundered the same way she plundered others. But you don't up the ante. So I'm not to say, well, you did evil action A, so now I'm going to do evil action A plus evil action B. And then you say, oh yeah, well, I'm going to do A, B, and I'm going to throw C into the mix. And so this violence escalates as you each try to outdo each other. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth is prohibiting that kind of escalation. It's saying, no, the punishment has to fit the crime. The punishment has to be equal and measured and a fit and just response. You're not to escalate it. So we see the Jews asking for that kind of justice, if you will, or vengeance. Are they wrong? I mean, aren't we taught not to want vengeance? So yet we see the Jews asking for vengeance here, and God says he's going to take vengeance on it. So is it okay for them to ask for vengeance or to want that same kind of pain they experience to be inflicted on the peace the people who caused it? Well, to answer that, we're going to have to look at what else Scripture teaches us about vengeance. So look at Leviticus 19, 18. This says, You shall not take vengeance or bear grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. Okay, so he says, Don't take vengeance against the sons of your own people. Does that mean we can want it for the Gentiles? Let's re look at Deuteronomy 32, 35. Vengeance is mine and retribution. In due time their foot will slip, for the day of their calamity is near, and the impending things are hastening upon them. So we gotta keep both those verses in mind. And there are others as well, but these are the main ones. So Leviticus 19.18 says, Don't take vengeance. Deuteronomy says, vengeance belongs to the Lord, not us. So I think there's it is right to ask God to bring about justice, but it is wrong to take matters into our own hands, because that is taking something that is not ours to take. Vengeance belongs to God, not to us. Establishing justice or figuring out what punishment fits the crime is the role of the judge. And it's never a good idea for someone involved in the conflict to get to meet out the punishment of the offender. Now, you know this as parents, right? All the time with your children, because if your son hits your daughter, then most likely your daughter's gonna hit back, and then and then your son's gonna hit back again, and then they're gonna hit, and the violence is gonna escalate. So what do you teach your kids? When one child hits the other, you say to the offended child, you come find mom. You you come to the judge, you look for the person who's outside the conflict. So you don't take vengeance, you don't hit back, you seek out that impartial third party because mom can judge fairly, getting all the facts, and figure out what needs to be done. And that kind of justice or judgment can only be done by someone who is outside the conflict, someone who has all the facts and the wisdom and the knowledge and the experience necessary to render a just an appropriate justice. And when mom does that, you end the vengeance cycle because you can deal out an appropriate punishment and then it's done. Justice has been served, conflict over, hopefully. At least that's the theory. It didn't always work in my house. But that's the idea. And that's kind of what's going on here. It's right for God's people to want him to bring justice because they have been wronged, to want the evil that was done against them to be dealt with. So, in that sense, it's right to ask for vengeance, but it's wrong to do it yourself. You want to take that to God because he is the third party, the fair, wise, just, all-knowing God. He has all the facts, he knows everything there is to know, and we can count on him to do what's right. So he's outside the conflict, he's the judge, and then judgment is good news. It can end the violence because now justice has been served and that cycle of evil broken. And so we know that when faith changes us and we start, we humble ourselves before the Lord, we start to want what he wants, and we start to value what he values, and we start to call evil what he calls evil, and to seek what is good and holy that what he calls good and holy. So it follows that there is a sense in which we ought to want what God wants. And insofar as God seeks vengeance or justice, it is okay for us to want that too. When the Lord promises it, we can we can it's okay to want that promise to be fulfilled. Vengeance can be a form of justice when somebody holy like the Lord is meeting it out. So we should hate sin and evil just as the Lord hates sin and evil. We should want sin and evil to be judged and set right just as God wants it to set right. So there's a sense in which it's okay for us to want to see judgment come to the bad guys. But, and this is a really big qualification, we have to acknowledge whose responsibility it is to bring it about. It is not ours. So it's right to ask God to bring about justice, but it's wrong to take matters into our own hands because it's not something that is ours to take. Well, that sounds good, but didn't we read a whole bunch of passages early on that said Babylon was just doing the Lord's bidding when they destroyed Jerusalem? And that God was bringing them as his tools and as his instruments, and they were coming down on Jerusalem because Jerusalem sinned and they deserved to be destroyed. So, how is it fair that God punishes them for that? In fact, Babylon makes the same claim. Remember 50 verse 7, and all those who came upon them have devoured them, and their adversaries have said, We're not guilty, and as much as they have sinned against the Lord, who is the habitation of righteousness, even the Lord the hope of their fathers. So we have this even in our passage, Babylon saying, Hey, we're not guilty. They deserved it. You you were gonna judge them anyway. They sinned against the Lord, the hope of their fathers, they had it coming. We were just the lucky people who got to take all the spoils of their punishment. So, how can you find us guilty for that? So, are they right? Well, this raises a lot of questions about human responsibility and God's sovereignty and the problem of evil, which I'm not going to get into, but I'm gonna at least get you started on an answer. And I would say, even though God used Babylon to punish Jerusalem, they are still guilty for the evil they committed. So they are still guilty for their violence, their abuse, they still need to be judged. The fact that God used their evil actions to his own good purposes does not change the fact that their actions were evil. So, yes, God had a plan. Yes, he used evil people to bring it about. I mean, who else is he gonna use? There's not a lot of choice there. So they are still evil, and evil needs to be judged. And he is, in fact, I would argue that he must judge them to prove he is fair. He can't say evil gets away with it over here and gets judged over here. If he's gonna judge evil, he has to judge it all because he is a God of justice. And he does judge evil wherever he finds it. I have yet to find a case in Scripture where sin goes unpunished. There sin always has consequences. Always. Now, it's frequently and often redeemed, and the Lord can and does bring something glorious out of the tragedy, and that is often the case, but it there's always a consequence. Evil is never, never goes unpunished. Okay, but now we have a bigger problem than we started with. Because if God judges all sin and he judges all the bad guys, I'm one of the bad guys. So what hope do I have? Because if I'm honest, I'm no different than the Babylonians. I'm no di I am one of the bad guys he's judging. Now, remember there are two themes in this passage: God will judge Babylon and God will restore his people. Look at 51.5. For neither Israel nor Judah has been forsaken by his God, the Lord of hosts, although their land is full of guilt before the Holy One of Israel. So they are fully guilty, but they have not been forsaken. Judgment is not the end of the story. Just like the exile was not the end of the story. God says, I will not forsake my people, even though they're guilty. So sending them off into exile, that was part of the learning process, but it is not the end. In fact, in the midst of these judgment oracles against Babylon, there's always a message of hope, not only for God's people, but in many of the oracles, there is a similar kind of message to the nations, that if they repent and turn back, they can find mercy themselves. But here we have God will not forsake his people. So what's he going to do? Look again in verse 20. In those days and at that time, declares the Lord, search will be made for the iniquity of Israel, but there will be none, and for the sins of Judah, but they will not be found. For I will pardon those whom I leave as a remnant. So we get these messages about judgment isn't the end, judgment is a means to bring about forgiveness and restoration, and then he says, We're gonna search for their sins and they won't be able to find any. Well, how is that possible? We just learned that God's gonna judge the bad guys, that evil will always be judged, that sin always had consequences. How can this be? I'm gonna search for the sins of Israel and Judah, and I'm not gonna find any. How is he gonna pardon them? So God judges the bad guys. We his people are part of the bad guys. How can we forgive us when we don't deserve it? Well, he can both judge and forgive because he's doing something new. Jeremiah speaks of this new arrangement, this new everlasting covenant. Look at four and five again. In those days and at that time, declares the Lord, the sons of Israel will come, both they and the sons of Judah as well. They will go along weeping as they go, and it will be the Lord their God, their seek. They will ask for the way to Zion, turning their faces in that direction. They will come that they may join to the Lord in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten. There is this new covenant coming, and we looked at those passages before. This new covenant that an eternal covenant that will bind God's people to himself, where he writes the law on their hearts, well, they will seek him with weeping and repentance, and they will want to be part of his people again. So something's going to change. So how does he bring that about? How can he do something new? Well, the passage doesn't say this, but from our point in history, we know the answer. This all came about because of his son Jesus Christ. So the judgment that God promises to visit on the bad guys gets directed at Jesus instead. Jeremiah 51, verse 40 says of the Babylonians, I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams together with male goats. And that destruction, I think, foreshadows another lamb that was led to the slaughter, another destruction and another judgment, where God judged the bad guys once and for all, but that judgment didn't land on the bad guys, it landed on the only good guy who ever lived. So that bad guys, like you and me, can be forgiven. So it's here where Jesus is led like a lamb to the slaughter that God's judgment meets God's forgiveness, and through it we, and all other bad guys, can be redeemed and reconciled and forgiven. It is the cross that allows God to both judge and to forgive. So it allows us to approach a God who has the right to take vengeance and establish justice even though we are sinners. The combined gospels record seven statements that Jesus made while he was hanging on the cross, but perhaps the most agonizing was, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why did God forsake Jesus on the cross? Because his death was the only way to save the bad guys, people like you and me. And look at the people he died for. Judas was one of his closest friends, his close circle, and he sold out the Lord for a few pieces of silver and betrayed him with a kiss. The authorities come to meet him with clubs and swords in the middle of the night for fear that someone will see they're arresting an innocent man. The chief priests and the Sanhedrin convict him in a trial that's completely illegal, and they called for the trial for the sole purpose of finding him guilty and executing him. The judges were corrupt, the witnesses perjured themselves, the temple guards and the Roman soldiers gathered around him while he's bound and weakened and defenseless, and like bullies they spit on him and hit him and mock him and crush a crown of thorns on his head. And then Pilate, who has the power of Rome, who could have stopped the entire farce, he acts strictly for his own convenience and expedience, pleasing the cloud crowd because it's easier to give them Barabbas than risk a revolt by the mob. And as Jesus hangs on the cross, priests, criminals, passers by mock him. All kinds of people from all kinds of background turned out to be part of the bad guys. Who no one speaks for him in that moment of humiliation. And eventually he cries out, My God, why have you forsaken me? And when the high priests see him hanging there, this is Mark 15, 31, they say, He saved others, he cannot save himself. But they were wrong. He could save himself, but he would not save himself. He offered himself freely as a ransom for sinners and voluntarily laid down his life in order that bad guys like you and me can be forgiven. So he saved others, but he would not save himself, and he was forsaken of God, so that you and I might not be forsaken. So when he cries out on the cross and he says, Why have you forsaken me? What's the answer to that? Well, we have the answer from Jesus himself. God re John records these words in his gospel. They're probably very familiar to you. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. So will the bad guys get what's coming to them? Not if we believe in the blood of Jesus Christ. Let's stop there. Father, thank you for all the things you've taught us this year. And as Easter approaches this Sunday, uh, we just marvel in awe and gratitude at what you did for us and realize that we are part of the bad guys, that left to ourselves there's nothing we can do to save ourselves, that we have done nothing to deserve your favor or for your forgiveness, and that there's no way we can earn it. But we praise you that when we turn to you with forgiveness, with humility, with um a cry for mercy, asking that you save us because of the blood of your son, that you eagerly and delightedly save us. We just pray that as we celebrate the cross and the resurrection this weekend, that um they would not be ideas or theology that we've learned in Sunday school and don't think about, but they would be the tone, the whole joy and reason for our existence, that you would light them on our heart as deep truth that changes from the inside out. Indeed, I mean, you know, it's a good one.