Rev. Don Campbell

Jeremiah 46-48

THOUGHT FOR TODAY, August 22, 2019

“WHEN JUDGMENT COMES, THERE IS NO PLACE TO HIDE”

The final section of Jeremiah deals with God’s judgment against the nations surrounding Judah. One by one their destruction announced, with the Babylonians being the instrument in God’s hand for their destruction. Finally, in Jeremiah 50-51, the destruction of Babylon is announced. In our reading today, the Egyptians, the Philistines, and the Moabites are in the crosshairs of prophecy.

Hear the word of the Lord Moab (Jeremiah 48:40-44, NLT):
“Look! The enemy swoops down like an eagle,
spreading his wings over Moab.
Its cities will fall,
and its strongholds will be seized.
Even the mightiest warriors will be in anguish
like a woman in labor.
Moab will no longer be a nation,
for it has boasted against the LORD.
“Terror and traps and snares will be your lot,
O Moab,” says the LORD.
“Those who flee in terror will fall into a trap,
and those who escape the trap will step into a snare.
I will see to it that you do not get away,
for the time of your judgment has come,”
says the LORD.”

Moab would never again be a nation. Its few survivors were assimilated into other surviving nations. Our focus is on verse Jeremiah 43-44: Those who flee will fall into a trap, those who escape the trap will step into a snare. Isaiah spoke essentially the same words (Isaiah 24:17-20). Here the judgment is on the whole earth. The lesson for all is that when God judges, there is no place to hide: “When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?’” (Revelation 6:12-17).

There was no place to hide: “Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:11-15).

There is no place to hide from God’s judgment, but there is a place to which all can flee now, and those who do will not tremble on the day of judgment, but shout the glory of God: “For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek” (Hebrew 6:16-20).

CONNECTIONS

1. How can we be sure that we are prepared for the day of judgment?

2. What parable does Jesus give to teach that once the door of opportunity has been shut it will not be open? (Matthew 24:36-44).