Jeremiah 25

In the early part of chapter 25 we learn when it was that Jeremiah had begun speaking to the people for God. It was in king Josiah's thirteenth year,—about 628 B. C., 18 years before Josiah died in battle. Much had occurred during those 23 years, (verse 3). The Babylonian empire had been revived and Egypt's day of power was now about over; the last God-fearing king of Judah had died; Nineveh, the great city of its time, was destroyed and Assyria as a kingdom had come to its end with it; Nebuchadnezzar had just been made co-ruler with his father of Babylonia, and was about to besiege Jerusalem and carry away to Babylon both the vessels of the temple and some of the people.

All the warnings given through Jeremiah and other servants of the living and true God had fallen on deaf ears. Yet when Nebuchadnezzar should presently appear, no one could say he had not been warned. Now we come to the definite length of that captivity that was shortly to be Judah's: 70 years (verse 11). At the further end of this period we find Daniel 9 then 85 or 90 years of age (for he was one of the youths first carried away by Nebuchadnezzar), praying in view of the early return of some of the Jews to Jerusalem. Daniel then learned that 70 weeks of years (verse 24) were to be fulfilled before Israel’s troubles should cease, nor did that period—suspended when Israel's Messiah was crucified while yet one week remained unfulfilled—begin until Nehemiah was authorized to rebuild Jerusalem's wall. (Nehemiah 2).

We have seen in many of the chapters of this book that have been before us, the fearful guilt of Judah, and, though they were loved by God, we found there the promise of unsparing judgment upon that highly favored people. But if judgment falls upon those who profess God's name, shall a guilty world escape? It cannot be! The apostle Peter in 1 Peter 4:17¹⁷For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? (1 Peter 4:17) speaks of judgment beginning at the house of God, and adds, "If it first begins at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?''

We get then in this chapter the assurance of divine intervention, in punishing the king of Babylon and his people, Israel's neighbors, too; and finally, the whole world is to be judged. Part of the promised dealings, are past, but the worldwide judgments are yet in the future.

Babylon's high glory came to an end when the Medes and Persians seized the city in B. C. 538 (Daniel 5:30-31³⁰In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain. ³¹And Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old. (Daniel 5:30‑31)), and the whole district surrounding the site of the once great city—-land of Chaldea – is now uninhabited and desolate, much of it having become marshy ground. The judgment of the lands bordering Israel occurred before that of Babylon. Chapters 46 to 49 tell prophetically of their downfall which accompanied that of Jerusalem and Judah, for all those who opposed him were crushed by Nebuchadnezzar.

The list of countries in verses 19 to 25 is not limited to those close to the land of Israel; it widens until in verse 26 we reach "all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the world which are upon the face of the earth."

"The king of Sheshach" (verse 26) refers to Babylon; this name is found again in chapter Si. The meaning of the name is not known, but some have thought that it was used to avoid giving offence to the Babylonians, and for this reason was made by taking the second and twelfth letters, reckoning backward from the end of the Hebrew alphabet, in place of the second and twelfth letters counted in the usual way from the beginning, which are used for the name Babel or Babylon. Psalm 110, the reader is reminded, has all the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet in their order, 8 verses for each letter.

Fearful will that day be when a long-suffering God unsheathes, His sword; Isaiah 34 and Revelation 19 present two vivid pictures of the scenes yet to be enacted on this earth, when judgment, long withheld, takes place among the living; with these, and all other prophecies in the Scriptures concerning the day of judgment to come upon the world, Jeremiah 25 of course agrees.

Neither armies nor navies nor aircraft will be of service in that day; the most powerful nation will be as the weakest; science and invention will profit nothing in the hour when God's controversy with the nations shall be revealed. And, note (verse 31) He will enter into judgment with "all flesh"; many a proud religionist will have a terrible awakening when he finds that all his "good works" (apart from salvation) are worthless, (See Matthew 7:21-23²¹Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. ²²Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? ²³And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. (Matthew 7:21‑23)).

Fearful is the picture presented to our minds by verse 33, yet God must be true to Himself. He cannot leave sin unpunished; whosoever has not Christ for his Saviour will bear the punishment of his guilt, and that, according to the Scriptures, eternally.