WWUTT 2589 God's Promise of Judgment and Mercy (Jeremiah 49:1-39)

In the section of Jeremiah that we are in, we're reading of God's judgment that will be upon Gentile nations and cities. But some of them will not be completely obliterated. Some of them will see the mercy of God when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand the Text, a daily Bible commentary to help encourage your time in the Word. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we feature New Testament Study, an Old Testament book on Thursday, and our Q &A on Friday.

Now here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe.

Judgment on Ammon and the Pattern of Mercy

Thank you, Becky. In our study of the book of Jeremiah, we're in Chapter 49 today. And we're still in that section where God is issuing judgments against Gentile nations. Last time in Chapter 48, we read of God's judgment against Moab.

And this time in Chapter 49, we read of His judgment against Ammon. And there's also some other nations and cities that are mentioned in this chapter as well. But going from Moab to Ammon back to back, remember that Moab was one of the illegitimate sons of Lot from the incestuous relationship that he had with— well, the incestuous relations, I guess we should say—he had with one of his daughters.

They got him drunk. One daughter slept with him. The other daughter did the same. And the sons that resulted from that became these respective nations, Moab and Ammon. So here's the other one. And I'll begin by reading verse 1, and we'll go through verse 6.

Hear the word of the Lord. Then Israel shall dispossess those who dispossessed him, says the Lord. Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai is laid waste. Cry out, O daughters of Rabbah, put on sackcloth. Lament, and run to and fro among the hedges.

For Milcom shall go into exile with his priests and his officials. Why do you boast of your valleys, O faithless daughter, who trusted in her treasures, saying, Who will come against me? Behold, I will bring terror upon you, declares the Lord God of hosts.

From all who are around you, and you shall be driven out, every man straight before him, with none to gather the fugitives. But afterward, I will restore the fortunes of the Ammonites, declares the Lord.

You know, we saw the same sort of a thing about Moab. All these judgments listed throughout that chapter that God was going to bring on Moab, mentioning many of their cities, their false gods. But then at the end of that, there is that small little phrase that says, afterward, I will restore their fortunes.

So we see that said of Moab, and it's being said of the Ammonites as well. So we see in this section, remember, this is going from, oh, I can't remember what chapter we started with, but through chapter 51, with all of these judgments that are mentioned against these Gentile nations.

It was chapter 47, I guess it was. And many of these do not have any sign of mercy. But to some of them, mercy is shown, saying that I will restore their fortunes. So he announces hope for some, but not for all.

Mercy is shown to Egypt, to Moab, to Ammon, and to Elam. But there is no mercy for Philistia, Edom, who we're going to read about next, for Damascus, Kedar, and Hazor. There's no mercy mentioned for them.

So God shows mercy to some and not all. And that's like what we read about in Romans 9. He will have mercy on whom he has mercy, and has compassion on whom he will have compassion. He has mercy on whom he wills, and he hardens whom he wills.

So it is God who decides who he will spare and who he will pour his full judgment upon. And the next nation to receive the full judgment of God is Edom. That's who we read about next. So let me pick up here in verse 7.

The Judgment on Edom and the Pride of Esau

Concerning Edom, thus says the Lord of hosts, Is wisdom no more in Teman? Has counsel perished from the prudent? Has their wisdom vanished? Flee, turn back, dwell in the depths, O inhabitants of Dedan.

For I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him, the time when I punish him. If great gatherers come to you, would they not leave gleanings? If thieves came by night, would they not destroy only enough for themselves?

But I have stripped Esau bare. I have uncovered his hiding places, and he is not able to conceal himself. His children are destroyed, and his brothers, and his neighbors, and he is no more. Leave your fatherless children.

I will keep them alive, and let your widows trust in me. So this is talking about how a complete judgment will especially come upon the men in Edom. And as we get to the end of this, which this will go through verse 22.

Again, there's no mercy that's going to be shown to the Edomites. They will completely be destroyed. There is an entire book of the Old Testament that is committed to prophetically saying to the Edomites that they will face the judgment of God.

And that is the book of Obadiah. So the Edomites, when Israel had their enemies coming against them, the Edomites sided with the enemies of Israel. And Edom thought that they were untouchable because they dwelt in the high places.

Their city was up on a hill, up on a mountaintop. Nobody is going to be able to come against us. We can see when they're coming, and we have the high ground. We've got the advantage. And so they thought that they were not able to be conquered.

And yet, as said in the book of Obadiah, you set your place up high, and I will bring you down low. God is saying, no, you are not going to be able to escape the judgment that I bring against you, even when it's brought against you by these other nations.

So the descendants of Esau would perish from the earth. Now, that wouldn't happen entirely in this time, with this judgment, because later on, King Herod, who would reign in Judah at the time that Jesus is born, Herod was an Edomite.

So there were still Edomites around at that time. It wouldn't be until later that they would be completely wiped out, and there are no more descendants of Edomites on the earth today. But God, in his timing, will bring this judgment upon them.

And again, going back to Romans 9, remember that to Jacob God showed mercy, but to Esau he withheld it. Jacob I loved, Esau I have hated. And so here is the judgment that God will bring upon those descendants of Esau.

Hence why you see that name Esau come up in this judgment. So picking up in verse 12,. For thus says the Lord, if those who did not deserve to drink the cup must drink it, will you go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished, but you must drink.

For I have sworn by myself, declares the Lord, that Basra shall become a horror, a taunt, a waste, and a curse, and all her cities shall be perpetual wastes. I have heard a message from the Lord, and an envoy has been sent among the nations.

Gather yourselves together and come against her and rise up for battle. This is part of the prophetic judgment as being issued against Edom. Many nations will come against you. For behold, I will make you small among the nations, despised among mankind.

The horror you inspire has deceived you, and the pride of your heart. You who live in the clefts of the rock, who hold the height of the hill, though you make your nest as high as the eagles, I will bring you down from there, declares the Lord.

Exactly that prophecy appears in the book of Obadiah as well. Edom shall become a horror. Everyone who passes by it will be horrified and will hiss because of all its disasters. As when Sodom and Gomorrah and their surrounding cities were overthrown, says the Lord, no man shall dwell there.

No man shall sojourn in her. Behold, like a lion coming up from the jungle of the Jordan against a perennial pasture, I will suddenly make him run away from her, and I will appoint over her whomever I choose.

For who is like me? Who will summon me? What shepherd can stand before me? Right now in the series that we're going through in the book of Romans, which is what I'm preaching through in my church, Providence Reformed Baptist Church, here in Casa Grande, Arizona, I'm in Romans chapter 10, and it's there in Romans 10, where the Apostle Paul says, the righteousness based on faith says, do not say in your heart who will ascend into heaven, that is to bring Christ down, or who will descend into the abyss, that is to bring Christ up from the dead.

And what Paul is saying there with that illustration is that none of us can be righteous by our works. That's the context. Going all the way back to the end of chapter 9, talking about how the Jews did not gain righteousness because they believed that they would gain it by their keeping of the law.

They did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works, Isaiah 9 .32. If your salvation, if your righteousness was based on your works, then you could go up to heaven and bring Christ down, or you could go down into the pits, into the abyss, and bring Christ up from the dead.

Do you have the power and the ability to do such a thing? If you could claim your own righteousness, then you could bring Christ down to you. That's how absurd it is to believe that we can gain our righteousness by our works.

And even here in Jeremiah 29, who are you to think that you can summon me? What shepherd can stand before me? These questions that God asks. You think that you are good by what you do. You think that you are safe because of where you live.

You think that just because you dwell high on the cliffs, like an eagle's nest up on the rock, you think that that's high enough to get away from the judgment that God brings? Verse 20. Therefore hear the plan that the Lord has made against Edom and the purposes that he formed against the inhabitants of Teman.

Even the little ones of the flock shall be dragged away. Surely their fold shall be appalled at their fate. At the sound of their fall the earth shall tremble. The sound of their cry shall be heard at the Red Sea.

Behold, one shall mount up and fly swiftly like an eagle and spread his wings against Bozrah. And the heart of the warriors of Edom shall be in that day like the heart of a woman in her birth pains. And again, that's where that ends.

That's where the judgment against Edom ends. There's no glimmer of hope or mercy. Their judgment will be complete. And it is God's good pleasure to show mercy to whom he will show mercy and to harden whomever he wills.

And it is God who has done this and who can turn his hand back and who can say to God, how can you find fault for who can resist your will? But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Well, what does molded say to its molder?

Why have you made me like this? If it is God's will, he is just in doing. He is just to bring these judgments that we read about here in Jeremiah 49. And may these judgments also make us realize wherever we live, we're not automatically safe from the judgment of God either.

The United States boasts of its safety in where we are placed here on the earth. We've got oceans to either side of us, Pacific to the west, Atlantic to the east. We've got Canada above us. We still have pretty good relations with Canada.

They don't seem to be any great military threat to the United States and not the greatest relationship with Mexico, but also don't pose a great threat, except when some politician comes into office that opens the borders and then enemies from around the world know they can get in through the southern border or even through Canada.

But the United States boasts safety because of where it is that we dwell. Only two nations border us, Canada to the north or Mexico to the south, where you have countries in other parts of the world that might be bordered with a multitude of nations, and you never know who your enemies might be and where they come from.

But even the United States of America is not safe from the judgment of God. If God decides that he will bring judgment against this nation, there's nowhere the United States can go to escape from it. So even as we read of these judgments here, we must be humble and recognize God will judge whom he means to judge.

And the only way to be saved, the only way to be sure that you will not perish, especially for an eternity under the wrath of God, is to believe by faith in Jesus Christ who died for us and rose again so that all who put their trust in him will not perish but have everlasting life.

Damascus, Kedar, Hazor, and Elam Under Judgment

The next judgment that is given here is upon a city. So we've been reading about these judgments that come upon nations. This next judgment is upon Damascus, which is the capital city of Syria. Verse 23,.

And Damascus is another one of those places. No mercy of God seen. The judgment will be total and complete. You know, I remember when I was younger, when I was reading my Bible and was quite fearful of the judgment of God.

I thought, well, maybe God's judgment will just come upon cities. Because doesn't God just judge cities in the Bible? Maybe he won't judge the entire United States. And whatever city I live in will be righteous and will not fall under the judgment of God.

Well, as we read here, God judges nations and cities. Again, whomever he has decided to demonstrate his righteous judgment upon. The next judgment comes upon Kedar and Hazor. Concerning Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor that Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, struck down.

Thus says the Lord, Rise up, advance against Kedar, destroy the people of the east. Their tents and their flock shall be taken, their curtains and all their goods, their camels shall be led away from them, and men shall cry to them, terror on every side.

Flee, wander away, dwell in the depths, oh inhabitants of Hazor, declares the Lord. For Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, has made a plan against you and formed a purpose against you. Rise up, advance against a nation at ease that dwells securely, declares the Lord, that has no gates or bars, that dwells alone.

Their camels shall become plunder, their herds of livestock a spoil. I will scatter to every wind those who cut the corners of their hair, and I will bring their calamity from every side of them, declares the Lord.

Hazor shall become a haunt of jackals, an everlasting waste. No man shall dwell there, no man shall sojourn in her. Now the statement there about, I will scatter to every wind those who cut the corners of their hair, there's kind of a play on words there, because I will bring their calamity from every side of them.

They cut their hair just like right here, in these spots, it's the only place they cut their hair. Well, their calamity is going to come from everywhere, not just the sides of their head. That's kind of the illustration there.

Remember that in the law, God had said to Israel that they should not cut their hair like the pagan nations around them. So that's not some sort of law against certain kinds of haircuts, but rather that the Israelites should not be trying to look like the pagans around them.

They were to be set apart to God and not trying to imitate the customs of the people who worship false gods, because the things that they do were probably some sort of an homage or representation of those false gods in some way.

The last one that we have on this list is the judgment against Elam, and this will finish up the chapter, beginning in verse 34. The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah.

Thus says the Lord of hosts, Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the mainstay of their might, and I will bring upon Elam the four winds from the four quarters of heaven, and I will scatter them to all those winds, and there shall be no nation to which those driven out of Elam shall not come.

I will terrify Elam before their enemies and before those who seek their life. I will bring disaster upon them, my fierce anger, declares the Lord. I will send the sword after them until I have consumed them, and I will set my throne in Elam and destroy their king and officials, declares the Lord.

But in the latter days, I will restore the fortunes of Elam, declares the Lord. So in this chapter, it's the first nation, the judgment upon Ammon, and the last one, the judgment on Elam. In both of these, there is a glimmer of hope.

The mercy of God in the latter days, I will restore them. And so we remember again, God has mercy on whom he has mercy. He hardens whomever he wills and he saves whomever he wills. So praise God for his mercy and his goodness to you, dear Christian.

Now, given the righteousness of God by faith in Jesus Christ, go and sin no more. Heavenly Father, we thank you for what we have read, and I pray that it does keep us reverently fearful. We understand that in the hand of God are all judgments, and you are right and good to judge as you please.

You are merciful and gracious to show mercy to whom you please. And so, Lord, we who have believed in Christ, who know the mercy of God, we praise you and we thank you. And I pray the testament to our thanks will be the righteousness that we walk in, knowing that God has saved us, he has purified us, and so now being purified, we walk in holiness before you all our days.

Thank you for your goodness and grace. Keep us from stumbling and in your kingdom until the day of Christ draws near. It's in Jesus' name 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.

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