A brief overview for Sunday School teachers and Bible study leaders, of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible lesson of Jeremiah 50, for Sunday, August 20, 2023, with the title, “Just.”

(A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRO: A couple of times when I have shared an illustration in a sermon, I didn’t wrap up all the details in the story. Like once I told about a man who fell off an aircraft carrier, and can you imagine how helpless he was, drifting all alone in the middle of the Pacific Ocean — and that is like how we are lost, helpless, without God, etc. And I went on with the message. After church Cheryl said, “What happened to the guy?” I said, “What?” She said: “The guy who fell off the ship; what happened to him? Did he get rescued, did he die? What happened?” Two or three times over the years that happened, so I’ve learned, I need to be sure and “finish the story” so everyone knows what happened.  (EDIT: OK, so I did it again: I didn’t tell my YouTube listeners the end of THAT story either! The guy who fell off the aircraft carrier WAS indeed rescued and shared the story of how he felt so helpless while the carrier sped away! 🙂

Some of you may remember Paul Harvey, who a radio spot called: “The Rest of the Story”, where he would fill in little-known details of the stories of famous people. That is somewhat like our lesson for today in Jeremiah 50— which brings us to the context:

CONTEXT:

We know the “big picture” story of Jeremiah: Israel & Judah had sinned for years, generation after generation; God had given them opportunities to repent, but they didn’t respond, so finally He sent Babylon to invade and judge them. They destroyed Jerusalem and took many of them into captivity into Babylon. 

So now as we come to our last lesson in Jeremiah, Chapter 50 opens with :1, “The word which the LORD spoke concerning Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans, through Jeremiah the prophet.”  So God is kind of “wrapping things up” in Jeremiah, kind of like Paul Harvey’s “the rest of the story,” or like in the movies when some text scrolls at the end saying what happened to all the characters. So God is saying here, the destruction of Jerusalem is not the end of the story. In Jeremiah 50 He gives us “The Rest of the Story” — what would happen to Babylon, and to Judah, in the days to come after Judah’s punishment.  

OUTLINE:

I. “The Rest of the Story” For Babylon (:11-16, 18)

II. “The Rest of the Story” For Israel  (:17-20, 33-34)

I. “THE REST OF THE STORY” FOR BABYLON:

First let’s review Babylon a little bit. (I would print some maps/images for this section) First, I would point out on a map where Babylon is). During the time of King Nebuchadnezzar, Babylon became the largest city in the world, with about 200,000 residents. It’s hanging gardens were one of the “7 Wonders of the World” (PICTURE) An immense building, with all kinds of plants and trees hanging from it. It was the “New York” or “London” of the ancient world. So it was a significant place: the most powerful city in the world. And King Nebuchadnezzar had just defeated and destroyed Judah, and Egypt, the other major world power as well. So they were at the height of their power now.

But what did GOD say would be “the rest of the story” for them?

It’s not a pretty story. God used them to judge Judah for their sins. He said in Jeremiah 20:4 “I will give over all Judah to the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will carry them away as exiles to Babylon and will slay them with the sword.” So God said He was giving Judah over to Babylon. This was HIS plan, in order to punish them for their repeated sins against Him. 

But look at Babylon’s ATTITUDE in :11.

God says to them: “Because you are glad, because you are jubilant, O you who pillage My heritage, because you skip about like a threshing heifer and neigh like stallions …”

Do you see the picture here? Because God gave them the victory over Judah, they were GLOATING; they were all like “in your face” — “glad … jubilant … pillage … skip about …”. 

It’s one thing to defeat someone; it’s another to humiliate them and gloat over your victory. The Bible says something about that in Proverbs: Proverbs 24:17-18 says “Do not gloat when your enemy falls, and do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles; (:18) or the LORD will see it and be displeased, and turn His anger away from him.”

The Bible says there that God does not want you to GLOAT over your enemy when you see bad things happen to them. 

In 1865, when Robert E. Lee surrendered the Army of Virginia to Ulysses S. Grant, Grant wrote in his memoirs that “When news of the surrender first reached our lines our men commenced a salute of a hundred guns in honor of the victory. I at once sent word, however, to have it stopped. The Confederates were now our prisoners, and we did not want to exult over their downfall.”

(The Annotated Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant, Elizabeth D. Samet, ed., pp. 885-886)

Grant was very gracious to his defeated foe. He wouldn’t allow his men to “gloat” over them; or celebrate “in their face.” 

But Babylon was not gracious to Israel. They were God’s instrument of punishment against them, but they were not merciful to them. In fact, Psalm 137 says they seized and smashed the little ones of Jerusalem against the rocks.  

So because they were not gracious; because they gloated; because they were not merciful but actually cruel to Judah, God says His punishment was soon going to come upon THEM:

:15 says: “For this is the vengeance of the LORD; take vengeance on her; as she has done to others, so do to her.”

God says, they were not merciful, so I am not going to be merciful to them. They were cruel, so their cruelty is going to come back on them.

And we see what that is going to look like in :12-13:

(:12) Your mother will be greatly ashamed, she who gave you birth will be humiliated. Behold, she will be the least of the nations, a wilderness, a parched land and a desert.”

(:13) “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 …”

The Bible says this great city/country Babylon, (which he refers to as their “mother” in :12) which was then THE greatest city in the world, is going to be deserted: “the least of the nations, a wilderness.”

We see more on this in :39-40 “Therefore the desert creatures will live there along with the jackals; the ostriches will live in it, and it will never again be inhabited or dwelt in from generation to generation. (:40) As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah with its neighbors,’ declares the LORD, ‘No man will live there, nor will any son of man reside in it.”

God was saying not only was Babylon going to be judged in return, it is not even going to be inhabited any longer. “No man will live there.”

THIS LITERALLY CAME TO PASS:  In 539 B.C. Cyrus the Great captured Babylon — so the kingdom didn’t even last 100 years after they destroyed Jerusalem in 587.  Then after Alexander the Great captured it, and died there in 323 B.C. the city was gradually abandoned, and looted, and it has been in ruins to this day! You can go there and visit — but it is literally just ruins. The largest, greatest city in the world in 587 B.C., with one of the “7 Wonders of the World,” would literally become an abandoned ruin to this day — just like God said in Jeremiah!

In fact, even now, about 2500 years later, Babylon is STILL uninhabited. You can go to it today, about 55 miles south of Baghdad, Iraq, and visit the ruins of Babylon. 

(YOU MIGHT SHOW YOUR GROUP A PICTURE OF THE BABYLONIAN RUINS LIKE THIS FROM THE INTERNET)

So this is a very interesting history lesson — but how do we APPLY this scripture to ourselves today? 

(??? You might even ask your group, to get them to practice applying God’s word:  “What lessons do you see for US from this passage so far?”???  I can see several:

— One: be gracious to your enemies. Don’t gloat over them. Don’t rejoice over their downfall. Don’t be “in their face” when you win. Be gracious. God will bless that. But as we see here, He will judge us when we are cruel, or not merciful to others.

So to apply that just a little bit more, what does it mean to be gracious? My wife Cheryl teases me about how sometimes in certain situations, where she is tempted to “lose her cool” with some people, I will whisper to her: “be gracious.” One time she said to me, “What does that really mean, anyway?!” 

??? What DOES it mean to be gracious???

(It means to treat somebody better than they deserve. Yes, maybe your enemy DOES deserve for someone to gloat over them. But don’t do it. Treat them better than they deserve. Treat them with respect instead. Be gracious to people. Treat them better than they deserve — as GOD has treated US better than we deserve!)

— Another application is that God holds nations accountable. Which applies to our country. You might discuss: God held Babylon accountable for what they did to Judah/Jerusalem. 

??? What kinds of things might God hold OUR country accountable for???

(60 million+ abortions on demand; allowing and promoting immorality/perversion in the form of “gay rights;” not caring for the poor; partiality in justice; just ignoring Him and His word in general; worshiping other gods/materialism/self … on & on)

Billy Graham had his wife Ruth review the manuscript for his book, World Aflame, which he published in 1965. “He had just finished a chapter vividly describing the sinful conditions in America, and gave it to Ruth to read. She was very much sobered by the writing and returned the document to the study where he was writing and laid it on his desk, saying, “Billy, if God doesn’t come soon and bring judgment upon the United States, He’s going to have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah!” (The statement has frequently been requoted by many others since that time. Dr. Dale A. Robbins, victorious.org)

The chilling thing is, when Ruth Graham said that, that was almost SIXTY YEARS AGO! How much worse things have gotten since then. I walked away from a sales desk in a store the other day where an obviously transgender person checked us out, and I thought, “Man, it is just more and more like we are living in Sodom!” We see over and over in God’s word: HE. JUDGES. NATIONS. And we are not a “special case.” He will judge our country too. 

— You might also discuss the balance of SOVEREIGNTY & RESPONSIBILITY as you apply this passage. “God’s Sovereignty” means that He is sovereign; He rules; He is on the throne. He has a plan that is being worked out in this world, that involves every one of us. But we balance that with “Man’s Responsibility” — that we are accountable to God for what we do. We need to understand that BOTH God’s sovereignty and Mans’ responsibility are true, and must be kept in balance. 

FOR EXAMPLE: It was God’s sovereign plan for Babylon to judge Judah. He could tell Jeremiah: this country Babylon is going to rise up, and invade Judah and judge the land. That was His sovereign plan. But Babylon was still responsible for what they did — and we see God holding them responsible in this passage.

:14 says: “Shoot at her, do not be sparing with your arrows, for she has sinned against the LORD.”  

So on the one hand, it was God’s sovereign plan for Babylon to judge Judah; but on the other hand, He was holding them accountable for what they personally did.

Another example of that in the New Testament would be Judas. Jesus said in John 13:18 that “the Scripture must be fulfilled, He who eats my bread has lifted up his heel against Me.” So what Judas did was in God’s sovereign plan; Jesus had to be betrayed and then die for our sins. But on the other hand, Judas was still responsible for the choices he made, and what he did. 

We need to realize that the same thing is true for US in our situations too. God has a big sovereign plan that is being worked out in the world, so there are things that ARE going to happen. But we are each accountable to Him for our own personal choices and actions. We need to make our choices, and do our deeds, in the light of knowing that we are going to be accountable to God for what we do. Never say, “Well, I was just predestined to do it; I couldn’t help it.” NO! You are accountable to God. Babylon was accountable to God for their actions, and YOU are accountable to God for YOURS!

That might give you a start on some ideas for application; you/your group can think of others. But make sure you don’t just present a history lesson Sunday. APPLY this scripture for your class today. But it’s not only about Babylon that God speaks here. We also see:

II. “THE REST OF THE STORY” FOR ISRAEL: (:17-20, :33-34)

In :17 God turns the topic to Israel: “Israel is a scattered flock, the lions have driven them away. The first on who devoured him was the king of Assyria, and this last one who has broken his bones is Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.

In :18 God says “Therefore … Behold I am going to punish the king of Babylon” (as we saw)

Then He says in :19 “And I will bring Israel back to his pasture and he will graze on Carmel and Bashan, and his desire will be satisfied in the hill country of Ephraim and Gilead.”

Here God says Israel is going to come BACK to the Promised Land. Right now they were in captivity in Babylon, where they were taken as prisoners. But they were going to come back. 

“Carmel” & “Bashan” are areas in the Promised Land. He said they’re going to “graze” there — so the picture is that they’re like cattle, who will come back and “graze” there. In other words, they’re going to come back, and eat there, and flourish there once again.  

So that was a great promise — AND as we have seen, it is one that also came to pass. After 70 years in captivity, the Jews DID get to go back to Jerusalem again — that is what the Bible books of Ezra and Nehemiah are about, how they went back to Jerusalem and built back the walls of the city that had been torn down, and established the worship of God there, building a temple again. So “the rest of the story” for them was going to be good!

But that was not ALL that God would do for them. Look at :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.’”

??? What does God say here is going to happen to their sins???

“There will be none … they will not be found … I will pardon.”

I think this can refer to two things:

— First, after the punishment of being taken into Babylon, Israel would never again fall into the practice of idol worship. They had worshiped idols from the time they got the 10 Commandments on Mt. Sinai (with the Golden Calf) all the way until they were judged by Babylon — from about 1400 B.C., to 586 B.C., around 800 years! — they had worshiped idols. But now, after 70 years in captivity in Babylon, Israel would NEVER worship idols again!

One lesson here is that sometimes God has to use painful things to get our attention, and to purify our lives from sin.

— I think of Peter in the New Testament, who was so arrogant and self-confident (“I will never deny You!”) but who was crushed when he denied Jesus three times before servants! It was a humiliating defeat — but it led to him later being restored and used by God in a great way.

     Sometimes God uses very hard, difficult things in our lives — like Israel’s captivity in Babylon; like Peter’s humiliating betrayal — to purify us from some things that we would otherwise never deal with, and get us ready for the bigger things He has for us. 

— But there’s another meaning here too: when God says: “search will be made for the iniquity of Israel, but there will be none” I think it also means that their sins will be FORGIVEN by the sacrifice of the Messiah who would be coming — Jesus.

We get a hint of this at the end of :20, where God says, “For I will PARDON those whom I leave as a remnant.” So their sins won’t be found, because God is going to PARDON them. He will forgive them.

“Pardon” here is the Hebrew “salach,” “forgive” or “pardon.” 

Significantly, this word is never used of people forgiving each other; it is only used of the forgiveness of GOD towards us.

Isaiah 55:7 uses this same word when it says: “Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the LORD, and He will have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly PARDON.”

So God says, turn away from your sins; turn back to Me, and I will PARDON you; I will forgive you! 

I just read about how after President Nixon resigned in 1974, Gerald Ford, who became President, PARDONED former President Nixon for all of his crimes. Ford said it was for the good of the country, so we could move on. But the result was that now Richard Nixon was free from the penalties of his deeds, and over time, he once again served his country, by going on trips to China, and Europe, and Russia. He was forgiven, pardoned — and free to serve his country again.

That’s what God does for us in Christ. He “pardons” our sins, so that we are free from the penalty of our sins — NOT to go back into sin again, but like President Nixon, so that we can SERVE Him again the way He wants us to. 

We see more of this in :34, where it says “Their Redeemer is strong, the LORD of hosts is His name.” 

Now, we think of Jesus as our “Redeemer” and sing songs like “Since I have been redeemed,” but there was originally a very specific meaning to this concept of “Redeemer.” 

Each family in Israel had a portion of land that was allotted to them as their inheritance. But if they fell into hard times, or had to sell it, a “near relative” had the first option to buy that land back. The technical name for this person was a “kinsman redeemer.” That’s the idea behind the Old Testament concept of “Redeemer.”

So the Bible says here in Jeremiah 50:34, of Israel, that ‘Their Redeemer is strong, YHWH of hosts is His name.” God, and not just “any” god, but YHWH, the God of the Bible — the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, is Israel’s “Redeemer.” HE bought them out of their trouble — the greatest trouble there is; the trouble that we got into with God when we sinned against Him. 

God referred to this in a general way here in Jeremiah 50, but in the New Testament we see the plan unfold in a specific way, as Jesus came to be our “Redeemer” by dying on the cross to redeem us from our sins. 

— Galatians 3:13 says “Christ REDEEMED us from the curse of the Law.”

— Titus 2:14, “who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.”

— I Peter 1:18-19 “you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, 19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.”

In 1863, during the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln instituted the draft. But there was an “out”: if you were rich enough, you could pay $1000 and “redeem” yourself or your son out of the draft. But $1000 then was more like $250,000 today — so it was WAY beyond the ability of most people to pay. The rich could redeem themselves, but that was about it.

But the Bible makes it clear that we can’t redeem our souls with money — “BUT GOD” redeemed us with the payment of Jesus’ death on the cross. We just need to make sure that we have repented of our sins, and trusted Him as our Lord & Savior. 

CONCLUSION:

THAT is the hope that God’s people have. There are two very different “REST OF THE STORIES” here: we see it at the end of :34, Israel was going to be redeemed, but then it ends with “But turmoil to the inhabitants of Babylon.” The Babylonians were going to be judged for their sins; but God’s people would be redeemed from theirs, and serve and worship God again one day.  The question for US is, which of these will be OUR story?

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