The horrors faced by
Jeremiah and the people of Jerusalem were almost too much for anyone
to endure. Men, women, teenagers, children and babies were not exempt
from the devastation which occurred when God's wrath was poured out
upon them for their disobedience. They rejected God, and He allowed
the Babylonians to not only overtake them, but slaughtered them all
over the city. As we finish chapter two with verse twenty-two we see
that God had a special time for this to happen, and we will know more
about what takes place when the LORD's anger is poured out. We read:
You have called as in a
solemn day my terrors round about, so that in the day of the LORD'S
anger none escaped nor remained: those that I have swaddled and
brought up has my enemy consumed.
The
verse begins, “You have called as in a solemn day my terrors
round about, so that in the day of the LORD'S anger none escaped nor
remained:” Jeremiah looked at this time as “a solemn day”
or an “appointed place, time or meeting”. It was a day directed
by God, and it was meant to cause “terrors” which means
“fear or dread” upon those it was inflicted. Notice too that it
was “the LORD'S anger” which bears the idea of a “snarled
nostril, nose or face”. When God's face was against the people of
Judah and Jerusalem “none escaped nor remained”. No one
was an escapee or fugitive, and no one survived or became an exempt
remnant. In broadly painted words, Jeremiah said that everyone
suffered in some terrific manner.
The
verse continues, “those that I have swaddled and brought
up has my enemy consumed.” There
is one final reference to the babies within Jeremiah's thoughts.
“Those that I have swaddled and brought up”
refers to the infants and small children that were among them. His
“enemy consumed”
them which means “ceased, completed, accomplished, ended,
finished, spent” them by annihilation. Not even the tiniest
members of the city were exempt from the destruction they
experienced.
Can our minds conceive going
through such horrific troubles as those within Jerusalem? Can we
imagine no one being exempt from the LORD'S anger? As we ponder the
gravity of this verse, let us keep in mind that we have many within
our world today who reject the offering of salvation through Jesus
Christ which is from the LORD. There is a “solemn day”
appointed wherein God will once again pour out His wrath upon not
only one city, but the entire world. With such a dreadful example
before us, why would anyone reject the free gift of God? But they
will, and many will never be convinced or believe, and woe be to
those who “obey not the gospel of God”?
Next
time we will begin a new chapter and learn more of how these things
affected him, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until
tomorrow...there is more...
Look
for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From
Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be
Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the
Mount” in all major bookstore sites, www.amazon.com ;
www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at
www.mrzlc.com/bookstore
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