ROOTED - Thursday, May 14, 2026

Jeremiah
51:47-48

47 “Therefore, behold, the days are
coming

    when I will punish the images of Babylon;

her whole land shall be put to shame,

    and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her.

48 Then the heavens and the earth,

    and all that is in them,

shall sing for joy over Babylon,

    for the destroyers shall come against them out of the
north,

declares the Lord.

Reflection:
Babylon

Written By: Pastor Jesse Caro

Isaiah
the Prophet mostly cast judgments on Jerusalem. His judgments were to the
people of God more than to other countries. Jeremiah, on the other hand, mixes
his judgments to God’s people and the surrounding nations. The section in the
book of Jeremiah that deals with Babylon is brutal. God is unhappy and he means
to exact judgment on Babylon for how they have treated the people of God. Never
mind that this itself was a punishment to Israel. That is, God used Babylon for
his purposes… as a righteous judgment on Israel. Nevertheless, God holds
Babylon responsible for their actions.

If
I were Babylon, I would be terrified. Jeremiah is not holding back, laying out
graphic details of the punishment from God. No one will be safe, and there will
be no place to run or hide. It is one of the most dreadful series of judgments
in the whole Bible, and Babylon is oblivious to what is coming. As we consider
Babylon, we might be reminded that God does, in fact, judge nations (not just
individuals). This is part of the biblical record. Whatever you may think, God
has blessed our nation as it was founded on a Christian ethic. Of course, our
history as a nation is not perfect… far from it! But mostly, I think we might
attribute the success of this nation to, among other factors, the blessing of
God on it. There is, after all, a great benefit to being a country that has a
large remnant of its people that seek to honor God. Conversely, this nation, as
it gets a smaller and smaller remnant of God’s people, might find itself
running head long into a disaster of God’s making. If you don’t believe me, ask
the Babylonians who lived in 539 BC!

Prayer

Lord,
bless our country. May we continue to have a remnant of the church, your
people, here being salt and light in this dark world.