JEREMIAH LESSON 53


     We will begin this lesson in Jeremiah 51:34 "Nebuchadrezzar the
king of Babylon hath devoured me, he hath crushed me, he hath made me
an empty vessel, he hath swallowed me up like a dragon, he hath filled
his belly with my delicates, he hath cast me out."

     Nubuchadnezzar was the king of Babylon, when they destroyed
Jerusalem and Judah. He was like a dragon that could not stop finding
more prey. Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar symbolize evil. He spoiled the
land, and the people, and took them back to Babylohn to serve him.

     Jeremiah 51:35 "The violence done to me and to my flesh [be] upon
Babylon, shall the inhabitant of Zion say; and my blood upon the
inhabitants of Chaldea, shall Jerusalem say."

     We see, in this, violence done in Israel against God's people.
The Babylon {which symbolizes evil in our world today} does violence
to God's church even now. God holds them responsible for what they do
to His family. His family's blood is on them. In this particular case,
the blood of Jerusalem and Judah is on Chaldea or Babylon.

     Jeremiah 51:36 "Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will
plead thy cause, and take vengeance for thee; and I will dry up her
sea, and make her springs dry."

     The springs are really speaking of places where water is stored.
God brings the drought sometimes as a way of punishment. Just as God
turned the water to blood in Egypt. He is going to stop the water
supply of Babylon, here.

     Jeremiah 51:37 "And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwellingplace
for dragons, an astonishment, and an hissing, without an inhabitant."

     Babylon will be destroyed and not rebuilt. Sodom and Gomorah are
good examples of what happens to places when God's judgement is upon
them. Until this day, they are not habitable.

     Jeremiah 51:38 "They shall roar together like lions: they shall
yell as lions' whelps."

     They roared into the countries, and captured them like a lion on
the prowl. Now, they will be helpless as a very young lion.

     Jeremiah 51:39 "In their heat I will make their feasts, and I
will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual
sleep, and not wake, saith the LORD."

     The "perpetual sleep", here, is speaking of death. They will fear
the army so much that they will get drunk, to help them face the
problems ahead. Drinking does not help anyone. It only brings their
death a little sooner.
     Jeremiah 51:40 "I will bring them down like lambs to the
slaughter, like rams with he goats."

     This just shows the extent of their helplessness in the carrying
out of judgement against them. There is nothing they can do to stop
it. God has spoken, and it shall be.

     Jeremiah 51:41 "How is Sheshach taken! and how is the praise of
the whole earth surprised! how is Babylon become an astonishment among
the nations!"

     "Sheshack" is a symbolic name of Babylon. The miraculous way they
were taken could have been thought up only by the LORD. The earth is
surprised, because everyone thought Babylon was so well fortified that
no one could take them. Only God could think to stop the water in the
moat and attack by walking through the water lines.

     Jeremiah 51:42 "The sea is come up upon Babylon: she is covered
with the multitude of the waves thereof."

     This "sea" is not water, but the enormous amount of army that
comes over the land.

     Jeremiah 51:43 "Her cities are a desolation, a dry land, and a
wilderness, a land wherein no man dwelleth, neither doth [any] son of
man pass thereby."

     This explains, again, that it is not just the city of Babylon
that is taken, but all the cities in the land of Babylon.

     Jeremiah 51:44 "And I will punish Bel in Babylon, and I will
bring forth out of his mouth that which he hath swallowed up: and the
nations shall not flow together any more unto him: yea, the wall of
Babylon shall fall."

     The huge wall around the city of Babylon will fall. Bel in
Babylon is the same as the false god Baal. God will destroy this false
god. Bel had swallowed up, not just the goods of foreign lands, but
the people themselves. This evil false god will have to give them up
to the One True God. The Israelites will go back to their homeland
before the terrible fighting begins. They will not only go home to
their homeland, but to their God, as well.

     Jeremiah 51:45 "My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and
deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger of the LORD."

     The key word in the above Scripture is "my". This is true for the
Israelites, who had been captives of these Babylonians. They must
leave to keep from being caught up in the battle. This is true, also,
of people now. They must leave the world and the call of the flesh, if
they are to serve God. We may be in the world , but we must not be of
the world.

     Jeremiah 51:46 "And lest your heart faint, and ye fear for the
rumour that shall be heard in the land; a rumour shall both come [one]
year, and after that in [another] year [shall come] a rumour, and
violence in the land, ruler against ruler."

     This lets us know that the war will not be over in just one year.
There will be many rumors going ahead of the battles.

     Jeremiah 51:47 "Therefore, behold, the days come, that I will do
judgment upon the graven images of Babylon: and her whole land shall
be confounded, and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her."

     Just as God defamed the false gods of Egypt, He will defame the
false gods of Babylon. The devastation will be throughout the land.
There will be many who fall in death.

     Jeremiah 51:48 "Then the heaven and the earth, and all that [is]
therein, shall sing for Babylon: for the spoilers shall come unto her
from the north, saith the LORD."

     The Jewish people believed their trouble came from the north.
This is why this is repeated. It strikes terror in the people.

     Jeremiah 51:49 "As Babylon [hath caused] the slain of Israel to
fall, so at Babylon shall fall the slain of all the earth."

     This judgement is an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.
Just as they have slain others, they will be slain.

     Jeremiah 51:50 "Ye that have escaped the sword, go away, stand
not still: remember the LORD afar off, and let Jerusalem come into
your mind."

     This is speaking of the saved of God. Just because they were not
killed at first, does not give them reason to stop moving forward for
God.  They must get Jerusalem on their mind, and keep it there, until
they return there. Babylon symbolizes the evil in the world. They must
get the world off their mind.

     Jeremiah 51:51 "We are confounded, because we have heard
reproach: shame hath covered our faces: for strangers are come into
the sanctuaries of the LORD'S house."

     The shame was that not only had they come into God's house, but
they had taken the Godly things out with them. "Strangers" in the
verse above, is speaking of committing adultery. This is spiritual
adultery.  They had no respect for God's sanctuary.

     Jeremiah 51:52 "Wherefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD,
that I will do judgment upon her graven images: and through all her
land the wounded shall groan."

     God is especially angered at the graven images. They are
inanimate object that were being worshipped. They had no life. They
are nothings. God will destroy these graven images by breaking them up
and burning them.

     Jeremiah 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."

     This very same land had tried to build a tower to heaven once
before. God came in, and confounded their language, so they could go
no further. There is a time, when God will intervene in the affairs of
man. She can fortify all she can, but God can destroy anything they
can build. He is Creator God, and can do with His creation anything He
desires to do.

     Jeremiah 51:54 "A sound of a cry [cometh] from Babylon, and great
destruction from the land of the Chaldeans:"

     The cry is from the people.

     Jeremiah 51:55 "Because the LORD hath spoiled Babylon, and
destroyed out of her the great voice; when her waves do roar like
great waters, a noise of their voice is uttered:"

     The large city had many sounds coming from her. Now, all of that
is stopped. It is as silent as the grave.

     Jeremiah 51:56 "Because the spoiler is come upon her, [even] upon
Babylon, and her mighty men are taken, every one of their bows is
broken: for the LORD God of recompences shall surely requite."

     "Recompences" means rewards. "Requite" means to be safe in mind,
or restore.

     Jeremiah 51:57 "And I will make drunk her princes, and her wise
[men], her captains, and her rulers, and her mighty men: and they
shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the King, whose
name [is] the LORD of hosts."

     We dealt with this earlier. This perpetual sleep is speaking of
death. The King of kings and Lord of lords is Jesus Christ.

     Jeremiah 51:58 "Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The broad walls of
Babylon shall be utterly broken, and her high gates shall be burned
with fire; and the people shall labour in vain, and the folk in the
fire, and they shall be weary."

     These broad walls were a minimum of forty feet wide.  We have
mentioned before, that the enemy came inside this wall through the
water ducts. The people of Babylon were unaware they were there, until
they were already in control. It appears, they cut off all exits and
then burned the city.

     Jeremiah 51:59  "The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded
Seraiah the son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, when he went with
Zedekiah the king of Judah into Babylon in the fourth year of his
reign. And [this] Seraiah [was] a quiet prince."

     "Seraiah" was believed to be the brother of Baruch. We know that
Zedekiah was blinded and spent the rest of his time in Babylon in that
condition. Seraiah seemed not to be in severe bondage.

     Jeremiah 51:60 "So Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that
should come upon Babylon, [even] all these words that are written
against Babylon."

     It seems, that Jeremiah recorded all that he had prophesied.

     Jeremiah 51:61 "And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, When thou comest to
Babylon, and shalt see, and shalt read all these words;"  Jeremiah
51:62 "Then shalt thou say, O LORD, thou hast spoken against this
place, to cut it off, that none shall remain in it, neither man nor
beast, but that it shall be desolate for ever."

     It appears, that Seraiah was like Baruch and carried the message
of the destruction to Babylon. Jeremiah had recorded it, and Seraiah
took it, and read it.

     Jeremiah 51:63 "And it shall be, when thou hast made an end of
reading this book, [that] thou shalt bind a stone to it, and cast it
into the midst of Euphrates:"

     He was to read the prophecy, and then cast it into the river, so
it could not be burned. The wrath of God had been expressed in this
book. The casting of it into the Euphrates is symbolic of God casting
our sins into the depth of the sea. This shows the finality of the
situation. God will not alter the words in the book. It is set and
finished.

     Jeremiah 51:64 And thou shalt say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and
shall not rise from the evil that I will bring upon her: and they
shall be weary. Thus far [are] the words of Jeremiah."

     Babylon will never know its former greatness again. In fact, the
city of Babylon will never be rebuilt. The wrath of God has fallen on
them. Seraiah spoke this, but it was Jeremiah's words from God.














                         Jeremiah 53 Questions


1.  When was Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon?
2.  Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar symbolize ________.
3.  Who is the violence of verse 35 against?
4.  Whose blood was on Chaldea?
5.  What were the springs of verse 36?
6.  What will Babylon become?
7.  What had this mighty lion of war become?
8.  What is the "perpetual sleep" speaking of?
9.  What is "Sheshach" a symbol of?
10. What miraculous way did they attack the city of Babylon?
11. What is the "sea" in verse 42?
12. Who is taken besides the city of Babylon?
13. Who is "Bel"?
14. What will happen to the Israelite captives in the land of Babylon?
15. They will not only go home to their homeland, but to their ______
    as well.
16. What is the key word in verse 45?
17. How long will the war last?
18. What will God defame, when He destroys the Babylonians?
19. Where did the Jewish people believe trouble came from?
20. What is their judgement?
21. They must get the evil world off their _______.
22. Remember the Lord afar off, and let ______ come inyo your mind.
23. Why had they covered their faces in shame?
24. Describe the graven images.
25. In verse 53, "mount up to heaven" is remembering what thing they
    had done in the past?
26. What happens to the bows of the mighty men of Babylon?
27. What does "recompences" mean?
28. What does "requite" mean?
29. Who is the King in verse 57?
30. How broad were the walls of Babylon?
31. Who was "Seraiah"?
32. How did Jeremiah record the prophecies?
33. How was Seraiah like Baruch?
34. After the book was read, what was he to do with it?
35. What happens to Babylon and the city of Babylon?