JEREMIAH - CHAPTER 51 - DAY OF DOOM
JEREMIAH – Chapter 51 – “DAY OF DOOM”
Tuesday Morning Bible Study
November 8, 2021, the Year of Our Lord
Pastor Carolyn Sissom
On November 7. 2021, the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard attacked Baghdad, Iraq. There are centuries of wars throughout history between Iran and Iraq. This prophecy in chapters 50 and 51 are sealed by the book being thrown into the Euphrates River. This seal of judgment can only be broken by receiving Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God as Savior.
Iran was the nation ruled by the Medes and Persians by Cyrus. The fall of historical Babylon occurred in 539 BC, and marked the end of the Neo-Babylon Empire (Dan. 7: 4-5).
Babylon was mown down and winnowed like grain.
51:1-2: Thus says the LORD: Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, against those who dwell in Leb Kamai, a destroying wind. I will send winnowers to Babylon who shall winnow her and empty her land. For in the day of doom, they shall be against her all around.
The “Day of Doom” signaled the “time appointed” for all hell to break loose against them. Artillery battalions were told to spare no one. They were told to “utterly destroy” all of Babylon’s army.
51:3: Against her let the archer bend his bow, and lift himself up against her in his armor. Do not spare her young men. Utterly destroy all her army.
Leb Kamai (code word for Chaldea – the midst of those who rise up against me).
The population was counseled to flee in any direction possible to save themselves. (This was prophesied while no nation on earth could resist the power of Babylon. They ruled the world.)
While for Babylon it was the Day of Doom, for Israel and Judah, it was a Day of Deliverance. This prophecy is directed to a people not yet re-united.
51:5: For Israel is not forsaken, nor Judah by his God, the LORD OF HOSTS, though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel.
The Day of Doom is the day to flee, to get far away from the “time of the Lord’s vengeance,” so as not to be “cut off,” with Babylon. “Associative judgment” is again established. This applies to “Mystery Babylon” of the 21st Century.
Churches preaching tolerance for homosexual and lesbian worship-team members have but one word of advice from the prophet. Flee from them while there is yet time! Saints attending Messianic groups who preach Christ as secondary and promote Judaism over all other practice or considerations have but one word from Paul and the apostles: “Run!”
Fellowships that are nothing more than psychological support groups had best test their waters or find themselves on the Angel’s hit list of end time tasks. Ministerial Alliances where the emphasis is Inter-faith toleration and co-operation are no place for the true men of God. They are they who are filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel.
The nations of the earth are not exempt. They have drunk deeply from the “golden cup” and therefore the nations have gone mad. We heard world leaders at the Climate-Change Conference declare deranged statements over the world’s climate.
51:7: Babylon was a golden cup in the LORD’s hand that made all the earth drunk. The nations drank her wine. Therefore, the nations are deranged.
Rev. 17:4-6: The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication. On her head a name was written: Mystery Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth. I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. When I saw her, I marveled with great amazement.
Crazed over economic issues which threaten their existence, they find their way of life and future productivity is jeopardized. Immigration and climate-control issues are driving leadership “mad.”
Yet the voices of the saints and angels can still be heard.
51: 9-10: We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed. Forsake her, and let us go everyone to his own country. For her judgment reaches to heaven and is lifted up to the skies. The LORD has revealed our righteousness. Come and let us declare in Zion the work of the LORD our God.
In the midst of judgment, the saints and angels must continue to declare the work of the LORD our God.
(Let us keep the perspective this prophecy came before the last captives were taken away from Jerusalem. It was written as if the event had already happened. God said it and it was accomplished.)
Now we have the attack on Jerusalem by the Medes.
51: 11-12: Make the arrows bright! Gather the shields! The LORD has raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes. For His plan is against Babylon to destroy it because it is the vengeance of the LORD, the vengeance for His temple. Set up the standard on the walls of Babylon. Make the guard strong. Set up the watchmen. Prepare the ambushes. For the LORD has both devised and done what He spoke against the inhabitants of Babylon.
Jeremiah 51:13: O you that dwell upon many waters, abundant in treasures, your end is come, and the measure of your covetousness.
Babylon is described as dwelling upon many waters. She straddled the Euphrates and was surrounded by canals, dykes and marshes. Waters also symbolize people, or the turbulent masses of humanity.
Rev. 17:1 refers to those masses. There came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, “Come hither; I will show unto you the Judgment of the great whore that sits upon many waters; with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made dunk with the wine of her fornication.
Now the prophet turns to credentials for the statement above. It is one thing to declare something “done” before an unbelieving public. It is another to add credentials to that authority. At the moment the prophet was preaching, there was no man on earth greater than King Nebuchadnezzar. (God made him the most powerful man on earth BUT…)
51: 14-19: The LORD of hosts has sworn by Himself: “surely I will fill you with men, as with locust, and they shall lift up a shout against you.” He has made the earth by His power. He has established the world by His wisdom. He has stretched out the heaven by His understanding. When he utters His voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens. He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth. He makes lightnings for the rain. He brings the wind out of His treasuries. Everyone is dull-hearted without knowledge. Every metal smith is put to shame by the carved image. For his molded image is falsehood. There is no breath in them. They are futile, a work of errors. In the time of their punishment, they shall perish. The Portion of Jacob is not like them. For He is the Maker of all things. Israel is the tribe of His inheritance. The LORD of hosts is His name.
“The prophet declares who God is. He is the Creator of all things. Every prophet of God will in some form or fashion include a statement about God being the Creator somewhere in his prophetic delivery. Paul used it. Peter used it and Stephen was stoned to death with the testimony of it on his dying lips. When Darwin made his challenge and the world bought into his theory---at that moment judgment began in heaven’s court No one challenges the King of the Universe and lives. No nation can teach its children history and science without Jehovah and live. No family can ignore Him and structure their lives apart from Him and live. No government can rule its people without His counsel, and continue to exist. It is an impossibility. God will bury them in the dust of history” (Dr. C. R. Oliver).
How is God going to bring judgment against Babylon? He will do it with his chosen people in this case Cyrus; but with Mystery Babylon, it will be the people of the LORD.
51:20-24: You are My battle-ax and weapons of war. For with you, I will break the nation in pieces. With you, I will destroy kingdoms. With you, I will break in pieces the horse and its rider. With you, I will break in pieces the chariot and its rider. With you also, I will break in pieces man and woman. With you, I will break in pieces old and young. With you, I will break in pieces the young man and the maiden. With you also, I will break in pieces the shepherd and his flock. With you, I will break in pieces the farmer and his yoke of oxen; and with you, I will break in pieces governors and rulers. I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea for all the evil they have done in Zion in your sight, says the LORD.
“This is how the LORD plans to bring the nations to judgment now…through his people! His arm is not slack. His people have enough power through the Word, the gospel, and the Spirit, to break into these arenas. The people of the LORD, not action groups nor political entities. (O’ God help the mighty church of the Living God to rise to the occasion and be the “battle ax” in a day when the last vestiges of freedom are being usurped before us!)” (Dr. C. R. Oliver- Jer. 51: 20-24).
We are not speaking of an ancient city today, but the financial system of the world that has left God out of their reckoning. It is an imperial dominion which sets itself against the Lord and against his anointed (Ps. 2:2).
Babylon was an example, like Sodom and Gomorrah were examples. Babylon was a symbol. They were a religious people who were bankrupt and corrupt beyond measure. God met them with rampant fear and derision…messages of doom began pouring in on all sides. The King could find no solace. Belshazzar stood in his banquet hall (portrayed in Daniel), and the hand-writing from the hand of God caused his knees to tremble. Amid the orgy, he had prepared for 1000 of the top leaders from all the nations under his rule, God wrote judgment. The term, “the handwriting is on the wall,” began in that place of debauchery. The progression God uses is nearly always the same. What increases first is the repeated communication of fear and despair, then comes THE DAY. Darius surrounded that “Playground of Fools,” and brought down Babylon in one night. The drunken masses were in total disarray where even the guards were frolicking.
Darius the Mede is mentioned in the Book of Daniel as king of Babylon between Belshazzar and Cyrus the Great. He is not known to history. However, I take Daniel’s word for it.
51: 30-32: The mighty men of Babylon have ceased fighting. They have remained in their strongholds. Their might has failed. They became like women. They have burned her dwelling places. The bars of her gate are broken. One runner will run to meet another. One messenger to meet another, to show the king of Babylon that his city is taken on all sides. The passages are blocked. The reeds they have burned with fire. The men of war are terrified.
This was an accurate account of their last night of fame. Darius the Persian, took the city in one night and Daniel was given great wealth and freedom, when just hours before, he languished in a prison.
51:33: For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: the daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor. When it is time to thresh her, yet a little while, and the time of her harvest will come.
The time of harvest is sure. We will either reap evil or good depending on what we have planted. Run! It is harvest time! Run! Judgment is about to be carried out by the Living God. All the while, the people of God are saying, “Let God be judge between us” While they are weeping because of injustice after injustice, there is but one cry, “Let God be God!” He has heard the voice of His people many times before.
51:35: Let the violence done to me and my flesh be upon Babylon. The inhabitant of Zion will say, “and my blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea!” Jerusalem will say.
God is an able advocate:
51: 36-44: Therefore, thus says the LORD: Behold, I will plead your case and take vengeance for you. I will dry up her sea and make her springs dry. Babylon shall become a heap, a dwelling place for jackals; an astonishment and a hissing, without an inhabitant. They shall roar together like lions. They shall growl like lions’ whelps. In their excitement, I will prepare their feasts. I will make them drunk that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep and not awake, says the LORD. I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with male goats. Oh, how Sheshach is taken! Oh, how the praise of the whole earth is seized! How Babylon has become desolate among the nations! The sea has come up over Babylon. She is covered with the multitude of its waves. Her cites are a desolation, a dry land and a wilderness, a land where no one dwells. Through which no son of man passes. I will punish Bel in Babylon. I will bring out of his mouth what he has swallowed. The nations shall not stream to him anymore. Yes, the wall of Babylon shall fall.
Jeremiah’s pronouncement was made years before the event.
51:49: As Babylon has caused the slain of Israel to fall, So, at Babylon the slain of all the earth shall fall.
Two words of advice:
51:50: Get away! Do not stand still! Remember the LORD afar off, and let Jerusalem come to your mind.
51:56: For the Lord is the God of recompense, he will surely repay.
The prophet assigned a task to Seraiah, the quartermaster under Zedekiah, King of Judah.
51: 59-64: The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah, the son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah (the brother of Baruch 31:12; 45:1) when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. Seraiah was the quartermaster. So. Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come upon Babylon, even all those words that are written against Babylon. And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, ‘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. 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 into the midst of the Euphrates. And you shall 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.
This is the Word of God. It stands forever. However, somewhere in the Euphrates is a book. Although the nations of the earth sought to re-establish ancient Babylon, it will never happen. The nations are a part of the continued judgment against these lands.
Revelation 19: 1-5: And after these things, I heard a great voice of many people in heaven, sayings, Alleluia; salvation and glory, and honor, and power unto the Lord our God. For true and righteous are his judgments: for he has judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and has avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.
Godlessness brings on its own nemesis, and where godlessness is conjoined with the unconscionable exploitation of the underprivileged and the persecution of the righteous, nothing but timely and whole-hearted repentance can avert the death-sentence. Where, however, the sins of civilization reach their utmost limit and there is no further room for repentance, the judgment falls with the decisiveness of the millstone.
The collapse of godless rebellion and oppression on earth gives rise to jubilation in heaven. For mortal men the vindication of God’s righteousness is a sobering spectacle. For there is none who is not liable to His judgment to some degree. If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins, O LORD, who could stand? But saints and angels in heaven with purified vision see this lower world in the light of God’s glory through the Blood of Jesus.
POSTSCRIPT: I go back to a dream I had on July 18, 2012.
“I saw a map of the nation of Turkey and heard, “They will invade the borders of Turkey”. I saw soldiers and machinery of war. (On July 20, 2012, the Shi’a-Syrian rebels secured the Syria/Turkey borders) The dominate religion of the Lors is Shi’a Islam. This is the same as the Assad regime. The rebels are Sunni Islamic.
Then I saw written out in the dream, “Carolyn preach on the Lors.”
I had no idea what or who the Lors were, but research revealed:
Lors is a French word that means, “at the time of,” and is the name of a Persian tribal group of Iran (Lors/Lurs). They live mainly in south-western Iran. Their population is estimated at above four million.
Due to the context of the dream being set in the Middle East, I concluded it has to do with the Lors/Lurs of Iran. This is a Persian tribal group living mainly in south-western Iran. Their population is estimated at above four million. Iran is made up of provinces. One of the primary provinces is Bushehr. This is the site of the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant being built in co-operation with Russia.
In August 2013, the head of Russian nuclear regulator Rosatom said that the state company would soon sign documents transferring operational control of the Bushehr nuclear power plant to Iran, and on September 23 of 2013, operational control was transferred.”)
Taught by: Carolyn Sissom
Scripture from K.J.V., Text from F. F. Bruce Bible Commentary (F.F. Bruce) and Principles of Present Truth of Jeremiah by: Kelly Varner; The Road to Captivity by Dr. C. R. Oliver; Comments and conclusions are my own and not meant to reflect the views of those who I entered into their labors.