Rev. Don Campbell
Jeremiah 49-50
THOUGHT FOR TODAY, August 23, 2019
“WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND”
God had made it clear that he would use the Babylonian Empire to punish Judea, as well as other nations. When it had served its purpose and its own iniquity was full, it too would fall. What goes around comes around, and Babylon’s time had come: “Therefore wild beasts shall dwell with hyenas in Babylon, and ostriches shall dwell in her. She shall never again have people, nor be inhabited for all generations. As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring cities, declares the LORD, so no man shall dwell there, and no son of man shall sojourn in her” (Jeremiah 50:39-40).
“Before his death, Alexander the Great ordered the superstructure of Babylon’s ziggurat pulled down in order that it might be rebuilt with greater splendor. But he never lived to bring his project to completion. Over the centuries, its scattered bricks have been cannibalized by peasants to fulfill humbler dreams. All that is left of the fabled Tower of Babel is the bed of a swampy pond. (Mark, Joshua J. “Babylon.” Ancient History Encyclopedia. 28 Apr 2011. Web. 23 Aug 2019).
We see the theme of “What goes around comes around” again in Revelation 18:4-8:
“Come out of her, my people,
lest you take part in her sins,
lest you share in her plagues;
for her sins are heaped high as heaven,
and God has remembered her iniquities.
Pay her back as she herself has paid back others,
and repay her double for her deeds;
mix a double portion for her in the cup she mixed.
As she glorified herself and lived in luxury,
so give her a like measure of torment and mourning,
since in her heart she says,
‘I sit as a queen,
I am no widow,
and mourning I shall never see.’
For this reason her plagues will come in a single day,
death and mourning and famine,
and she will be burned up with fire;
for mighty is the Lord God who has judged her.”
In Revelation 17:5-6, John sathew a woman with a name of mystery written on her forehead: “‘Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations.’ And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.” Whatever identification one might make of the mother of prostitutes, she is clearly the center of opposition to the bride of Christ, his church.
Lenski comments: “We shall not regard these ‘merchants of the earth’ as literal merchants but shall see that they are all those who pander to the antichristian seduction and themselves batten on this seduction. The world is full of them today, many of them being great, multitudes of them being small. They set up their emporiums everywhere: thousands of them have big establishments in politics all over the world, hundreds of thousands have them in schools and education with seductive antichristian wares. Who will count them in books, magazines, the press! They import and export, ever doing a big selling business, finding delighted buyers everywhere, maintaining vast chain stores all over the world. Antichristian display wherever you turn. Babylon, “the Mother of the Whores” (17:5), is well served by her “merchants” who sell the seductive goods for her whoring. They “grow rich” through it, for it certainly pays. The verb agrees with “merchants,” yet the whole statement is symbolical and should not be reduced to mere monetary riches but should be regarded in the light of what is regarded as profit in Babylon the Great. [Lenski New Testament Commentary – The Interpretation of St. John’s Revelation].
CONNECTIONS
1. What are some of the current seductions being peddled by the merchants of sin today?
2. Should “What goes around comes around” give hope to the faithful or strike fear in our hearts?
