WWUTT 2584 Judgment on the Nations (Jeremiah 47:1-48:47)

God promises judgment against the Philistines and against the Moabites, and the judgments that we read about in scripture, we have the hindsight now of seeing those things did come to pass.

So repent and turn to God when we understand the text. This is

When We Understand the Text, teaching through a New Testament book on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, an Old Testament book on Thursday, and a

Q &A on Friday. With our Old Testament study today, here's Pastor Gabe. Thank you,

Becky. In our study of the book of Jeremiah, we come today to chapters 47 and 48.

And this is part of a section that goes from chapters 46 to 51, issuing judgment against the nations.

If you'll remember back to chapter 46, this was a judgment upon Egypt after a group of Jews decided they were gonna flee to Egypt in order to escape the hand of the

Babylonians. The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah who said to those Jews, don't do it.

If you stay in the land, if you worship the Lord, your God, you will eat the produce of the land. But they said, we're no match for the

Babylonians. We're better off going to Egypt and worshiping their gods. And then we have the safety of that land against the

Babylonians. Well, in chapter 46, there's this prophecy of judgment that's gonna come against Egypt by the hands of the

Babylonians, the very people the Jews were trying to escape from. These are the people that will become their judges even while they are in the land of Egypt.

So you have the prophecy of judgment against Egypt in chapter 46. What we're gonna look at today in chapter 47 is a prophecy of judgment against the

Philistines and then judgment against the Moabites in chapter 48. Let me begin by reading chapter 47, which is just seven verses here.

Hear the word of the Lord. The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the

Philistines before Pharaoh struck down Gaza. Thus says the

Lord, behold, waters are rising out of the north and shall become an overflowing torrent.

They shall overflow the land and all that fills it, the city and those who dwell in it.

Men shall cry out and every inhabitant of the land shall wail at the noise of the stamping of the hooves of his stallions, at the rushing of his chariots, at the rumbling of their wheels.

The fathers look not back to their children, so feeble are their hands because of the day that is coming to destroy the

Philistines to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every helper that remains.

For the Lord is destroying the Philistines, the remnant of the coast land of Caphtar.

Baldness has come upon Gaza. Ashkelon has perished. Oh, remnant of their valley, how long will you gash yourselves?

Ah, sword of the Lord, how long till you are quiet? Put yourself into your scabbard, rest and be still.

How can it be quiet when the Lord has given it a charge against Ashkelon and against the seashore?

He has appointed it. Now, here at the very beginning of this judgment, it says that the word of the

Lord came to Jeremiah concerning the Philistines before Pharaoh struck down Gaza. Gaza is in the region of the

Philistines. These are a Mediterranean people right there along the Mediterranean Sea.

They have been antagonists against the Israelites for many, many years, for centuries, going all the way back to the time of the judges.

Of course, the most famous conflict between Israel and the Philistines is when

David fought their champion, Goliath, from Gath. After that, King Saul continued to fight against the

Philistines, and it was the Philistines who killed Saul and his son, Jonathan. David continued to fight them when he became king.

So we've seen many generations that have had to fight against the Philistines, and here

God's judgment is coming upon them. It's said that it's going to be from Pharaoh who will strike down Gaza, but that's really the only portion of the

Philistines that Pharaoh comes against. Pharaoh himself isn't going to wipe out all of the Philistines, and this likely takes place regarding Pharaoh.

This happens when Necho was Pharaoh in Egypt, and he came against the

Philistines. This precipitated the events that would bring the Babylonians against Egypt, but the

Egyptians would not make a total end of the Philistines, and surely you know that, because Tyre is mentioned here,

Tyre and Sidon. Well, that was destroyed by Alexander the Great, so there is a judgment that's talked about here that will come later, maybe in issuing this judgment and saying that this was, it doesn't say that Pharaoh's the one that's going to strike them down.

It actually says that the judgment is going to come from the north. So behold, waters are rising out of the north.

Where's Egypt in relation to Gaza? It's in the south. So where is this judgment coming from?

So again, as I was saying, maybe this is leading the Philistines to believe, oh, well,

God said he was going to judge us, and the Egyptians were stopped by the Babylonians, so maybe we're released from this judgment after all.

Well, they're not paying close attention to hear that the judgment's actually going to come out of the north.

Another people who would live along the waters of the

Mediterranean. Hence why it is said, behold, waters are rising out of the north and shall become an overflowing torrent.

They shall overflow the land and all that fills it, the city and those who dwell in it. Men shall cry out and every inhabitant of the land shall wail.

It's very interesting that God would use Jeremiah to issue this judgment against the

Philistines that they would be led to believe it's going to happen by the hands of the

Egyptians who won't even finish the job. God is going to use another people out of the north that will come against this land and wipe it out.

And then there are other prophecies, of course, that come from Isaiah regarding the destruction of Tyre and exactly the way that Isaiah says it's going to happen is the way that it happens.

We've talked about that before. I won't go into the greater details of that now, but all that to say, here is the judgment that is made hundreds of years before it happens and it is fulfilled.

It happens exactly the way that God says that it will, not from the Egyptians, but from somebody who was rising out of the north, not even by the

Babylonians, but someone else that would come against the Philistines and wipe them out.

Now we know from 2 Peter 3 9, that the Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, it is said there, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

Now, the promise that's being talked about there is the promise of judgment. God is going to bring judgment against his enemies.

Even though judgment is being issued here against the Philistines and it would be hundreds of years before that is fulfilled, he is not slow to fulfill his promise as some should count slowness.

We're probably looking at our watches and we're wondering what's taking God so long. But as said in the verse right before that, 2

Peter 3 8, do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord, one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day.

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise. He will fulfill these things. He is going to do it in his perfect timing.

It may seem slow to us. What's hundreds of years to us? You know, what do you expect to see when you read the promises of God?

You're hoping to see them in your lifetime, right? And if it doesn't happen in your lifetime, then you wonder what has

God been doing in the midst of this whole thing? He's slow. No, he is patient because he's permitting those that he has called to himself to reach repentance.

Remember that God had said to Abraham about the people that inhabited the land of Canaan.

All of their sins and all their wickedness have not yet reached their fulfillment. That was going to happen several hundred years from now.

And it would be Abraham's descendants who would inherit the land. And sure enough, when

God brings his people out of the land of Egypt, he brings them into this land, the land of Canaan, to be a judgment upon them because the fullness of their sins had reached its peak.

And now God was bringing judgment upon them for the wickedness that they had done. So God is kind in his forbearance and patience meant to lead you to repentance.

That's Romans chapter two, was it verses four through six or something like that? Where it said, do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

So he's giving you the opportunity to repent. And may it be the case for you, oh sinner, whatever sin is in your life that you're continuing to hold on to and you think

I can continue to have this and God's just going to forgive me for it. How do you know that God won't just turn you over to your depraved mind?

Repent of that sin now while you can before the judgment comes. And this could certainly be said of any nation in the world today as well.

Turn from your wickedness because the judgment of God is coming.

Now we're going to go on from here into chapter 48, where we read of the judgment concerning Moab and we will reflect upon this a little bit more as we read, this is a much longer chapter, but 47 verses here.

Concerning Moab, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, woe to Nebo for it is laid waste.

Caryatheum is put to shame, it is taken. The fortress is put to shame and broken down.

The renown of Moab is no more. In Heshbon they plan disaster against her.

Come, let us cut her off from being a nation. You also, oh madmen, shall be brought to silence.

The sword shall pursue you. Okay, that's just the first two verses concerning this judgment that will be brought against Moab.

What geographically are we looking at here? The Philistines are in the far west of Judah.

Moab is to the east. So you're seeing how everybody around Judah is being judged by the hand of God.

As it was said back in chapter 47, it's the Lord that is doing this. Though the judgment may come from Egypt, though it may come from the

Greeks later on, Jeremiah 47, four, the Lord is destroying the

Philistines. He may do it providentially through these other powerful nations, but it is ultimately

God's hand that brings this about. Don't overlook that it is the Lord who has sustained you and it is the

Lord who is bringing judgment upon you because you remain unrepentant. Now, Moab, as I said, is in the east.

Who is Moab exactly? Well, these are kinfolk with the Jews. These are the descendants of Lot.

And the Moabites have continued to worship false gods. Well, God is going to bring judgment upon them as well.

They are not considered as Jews or as Israel. They are, though they may have a bloodline that's really close to the

Israelites, they're not considered the chosen people of God. So these pagans have considered, or have continued rather to worship false gods.

Remember though that it was a Moabitess, a woman from Moab, who's in the genealogy of Jesus Christ.

And that is Ruth. Ruth came out of Moab, came back to Bethlehem with her mother -in -law,

Naomi, finds the man Boaz, marries him. And then they become ancestors in the genealogy of Jesus Christ who would come generations later.

So God does have a plan even for the Moabites, but this nation that has remained in rebellion against God is going to face his judgment.

A voice, a cry from Horenaim. These are all great cities in that region.

Desolation and great destruction. Moab is destroyed. Her little ones have made a cry.

For at the ascent of Leweth, they go up weeping. For at the descent of Horenaim, referencing mountains, they have heard the distressed cry of destruction.

Flee, save yourselves. You will be like a juniper in the desert. For because you trusted in your works and your treasures, you also shall be taken.

And Chemosh shall go into exile with his priests and his officials. That's a false God that they worshiped.

The destroyer shall come upon every city and no city shall escape. The valley shall perish and the plain shall be destroyed as the

Lord has spoken. Give wings to Moab for she would fly away. Her cities shall become a desolation with no inhabitant in them.

Now, it's said here against the Moabites that God is the one who is bringing this about.

But the interesting thing about verse eight, the destroyer shall come upon every city and no city shall escape, there's a couple of possibilities for the destroyer here that could be a reference to God.

I don't think that it is though, not his hand directly. Rather, the destroyer could be in reference to the

Babylonians who will come and bring that judgment or it could be in reference to an angel that God would use to be the destroyer upon that city.

Like it may not be God's hand directly that works through these evil nations to bring judgment against another evil nation.

God may rather providentially, it pleases God to use those spiritual powers that exist within his angelic army.

So he would use an angel instead to be the one that would bring the sword, that would be the destroyer that would come upon every city in Moab.

We see this in the book of Revelation, when John beholds the breaking of the seals and the sounding of trumpets and things like that, it will be these different angels that represent different things that will come and pour out wrath here or there or swing a sword against this nation.

So we see that in Revelation that could be the reference also in Jeremiah 48 .8. The destroyer could simply be some angelic power

God uses to bring this judgment still through the nation that would judge the

Moabites, but it's the hand of an angel that kind of leads them to this battle, this war that is waged.

You see it also in 1 Kings, what is it? Chapter 22 at the end of 1 Kings where God permits a lying spirit to go into the tongues of Ahab's prophets that would lead him into battle where he would be killed.

And so just as God allowed a spirit to do that, so it could very well be an angelic power that is using this sword in the fight against the

Moabites. So continuing on with this issuance of judgment, verse 10, cursed is he who does the work of the

Lord with slackness and cursed is he who keeps back his sword from bloodshed.

Moab has been at ease from his youth and has settled on his dregs. He has not been emptied from vessel to vessel nor has he gone into exile.

So his taste remains in him and his scent has not changed. Therefore behold, the days are coming declares the

Lord when I shall send to him pourers who shall pour him and empty his vessels and break his jars in pieces.

Then Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, their confidence.

So Moab is gonna realize their gods are doing nothing to protect them from this judgment that is coming against them.

So they're gonna be ashamed of Chemosh. And this is the sort of the picture that's used here is the dregs, the vessels that would have held it would have held great vats of wine that they would have been drunk with.

Well, God is gonna empty that out. The thing that stinks about him, his scent has not changed.

The smell of drunkenness that has been upon him. He's not repented, he's not turned back to the

Lord. So God is bringing this judgment against Moab. Verse 14, how do you say we are heroes and mighty men of war?

The destroyer of Moab and his cities has come up and the choicest of his young men have gone down to slaughter declares the

King whose name is the Lord of hosts. The calamity of Moab is near at hand and his affliction hastened swiftly.

Grieve for him, all you who are around him and all who know his name, say how the mighty scepter is broken, the glorious staff.

You know, it's interesting that Moab is referred to as he whenever judgment is issued against Jerusalem, she's referred to as she.

Well, Moab is the name of the son, the grandson that was born to Lot for whom the land is named.

So that's why it would be referred to as a he in this sense. Almost as if Moab is that child that was born to Lot.

Well, I say that's Lot's grandson. Moab was Lot's grandson. Moab was also

Lot's son, if you'll remember that. Lot slept with his daughters or his daughters got him drunk and slept with him.

This was after the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Moab was the child that was born to one of his daughters.

And so Moab is both a grandson and a son to Lot. Anyway, like I said, that was a dark chapter.

And from this dark relationship comes this people who have done wickedly and rebelled against God that he is bringing judgment against.

So verse 18, come down from your glory and sit on the parched ground, O inhabitant of Dibon, for the destroyer of Moab has come up against you.

He has destroyed your strongholds. Stand by the way and watch, O inhabitant of Aror.

Ask him who flees and her who escapes, say what has happened. Moab is put to shame for it is broken.

Wail and cry, tell it beside the Arnon that Moab is laid waste.

Judgment has come upon the table land, upon Holon and Jaza and Nepheoth and Dibon and Nebo and Beth -Diblethaim and Kiriathaim and Beth -Gamal and Beth -Meon and Kiriath and Basra and all the cities of the land of Moab far and near.

The horn of Moab is cut off and his arm is broken, declares the Lord. Make him drunk because he magnified himself against the

Lord so that Moab shall wallow in his vomit and he too shall be held in derision.

Was not Israel a derision to you? Was he found among thieves that whenever you spoke of him, you wagged your head?

Leave the cities and dwell in the rock, O inhabitants of Moab. Be like the dove that nests in the sides of the mouth of a gorge.

We have heard of the pride of Moab. He is very proud of his loftiness, his pride and his arrogance and the haughtiness of his heart.

I know his insolence, declares the Lord. His boasts are false. His deeds are false.

Therefore, I wail for Moab. I cry out for all Moab. For the men of Kir Hereseth, I mourn.

More than for Jazer, I weep for you, O vine of Sibma. Your branches passed over the sea, reached to the sea of Jazer.

On your summer fruits and your grapes, the destroyer has fallen. Gladness and joy have been taken away from the fruitful land of Moab.

I have made the wine cease from the wine presses. No one treads them with shouts of joy.

The shouting is not the shout of joy." So just as God is saying that he will destroy

Moab in their drunkenness, so they will not receive any blessing from the land any longer.

And wine always being that sign of blessing. They would not receive it anymore from the

Lord. From the outcry at Heshbon, even at Elialah, as far as Jahaz, they utter their voice.

From Zoar to Horenaim and Eglash Elashiah. For the waters of Nimrim also have become desolate.

And I will bring to an end in Moab, declares the Lord. Him who offers sacrifice in the high place and makes offerings to his

God. Therefore, my heart moans for Moab like a flute. And my heart moans like a flute for the men of Kir Hereseth.

Therefore, the riches they gained have perished. For every head is shaved and every beard cut off.

On the hands are gashes and around the waist is sackcloth. On the housetops of Moab and in the squares, there is nothing but lamentation.

For I have broken Moab like a vessel for which no one cares, declares the Lord. How it is broken, how they wail.

How Moab has turned his back in shame. So Moab has become a derision and a horror to all that are around him.

For thus says the Lord. Behold, one shall fly swiftly like an eagle and spread his wings against Moab.

The city shall be taken and the strongholds seized. The heart of the warriors of Moab shall be in that day like the heart of a woman in her birth pains.

Moab shall be destroyed and be no longer a people because he magnified himself against the

Lord. Terror, pit and snare are before you, O inhabitant of Moab, declares the

Lord. He who flees from the terror shall fall into the pit and he who climbs out of the pit shall be caught in the snare.

For I will bring these things upon Moab the year of their punishment, declares the Lord. In the shadow of Heshbon, fugitives stop without strength for fire came out from Heshbon, flame from the house of Sihon.

It has destroyed the forehead of Moab, the crown of the sons of Tumult. Woe to you,

O Moab. The people of Chemosh are undone for your sons have been taken captive and your daughters into captivity.

Yet I will restore the fortunes of Moab in the latter days, declares the Lord. Thus far is the judgment on Moab.

And that's like saying this concludes the prophecy of the judgment on Moab. Now restoring the fortunes of Moab, Moab doesn't exist anymore today.

So eventually that judgment does become total that God brings against the

Moabites. So what is being meant there by I will restore the fortunes of Moab? That's simply to say that God does have mercy and there will be a remnant.

There will be people who will even come out of Moab who will believe in the Lord God and be spared the judgment that he will bring against them.

God will bring judgment even upon the nation that you live in. Your nation has not been from before the foundations of the world and nor will it be there when the world is ultimately judged.

And so it is upon each and every one of us now to turn from our sin to the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved because as I mentioned from the book of Revelation, judgment is coming and no nation will be spared.

The only nation that will live forever is that nation that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. The one that Peter talks about in 1

Peter 2 .9 as being a holy nation called out from the world and made a kingdom unto the

Lord our God through faith in Jesus. Heavenly father, we thank you for what we have read.

I pray that these kinds of things, they do strike fear in our hearts because we see that no one can escape the judgment of God.

And if it be your will to bring judgment upon anyone or any nation, then you will do it.

And the only way to escape God's wrath is to come to the Lord Christ who died on the cross for us, who rose again from the dead so that all who are in Christ Jesus will not perish but have everlasting life.

Convict our hearts that we may now go and live lives of holiness before you in the

Lord. It's in Jesus' name that we pray, amen. This has been

When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabriel Hughes. For all of our podcasts, episodes, videos, books, and more, visit our website at www .utt

.com. If you'd like to submit a question to this broadcast or just send us a comment, email whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com

and let your friends know about our ministry. Join us again tomorrow as we grow together in the study of God's word when we understand the text.