JEREMIAH, LAMENTATIONS, EZEKIEL

It is Friday, and I'm excited about our Mighty Men's Meeting being this weekend.  I hope that God meets with us in a special way, and I'm sure that he will.  Here are some thoughts from Jeremiah and the other chapters I read: 1) JUDGMENT ON BABYLON- Jeremiah 50:23  "How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken! how is Babylon become a desolation among the nations!"   Here we see Jeremiah pronouncing judgment upon Babylon and Jeremiah was a pre-exile prophet and an exile prophet.  He passed a way shortly after the 70 year captivity had began, and God uses him to say that Babylon, the same nation he earlier pronounces has been given authority over all of the nations and beasts of God's creation, that now they will be destroyed.  What is good for the Goose is good for the Gander.  You see Israel was taken into captivity because of their sin, but when Belteshazzar sins by bringing the vessels of the temple into his drunken party and toast the gods of gold and silver; God judges the Babylonian empire just like He did the Israelites.  Not only does God say they will be destroyed, but also tells who will destroy them!  Jeremiah 51:11  "Make bright the arrows; gather the shields: the LORD hath raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes: for his device is against Babylon, to destroy it; because it is the vengeance of the LORD, the vengeance of his temple."  It was the Medes and the Persians who destroyed Babylon in one night! 2) LAMENTATIONS- THE SITUATION- Lam. 1:3 "Judah is gone into captivity";  Lam 1:5 "...her children are gone into captivity before the enemy." THE SIN-Lam 1:8 "Jerusalem hath grievously sinned;" ;  Lam 1:9 "Her filthiness is in her skirts;"  THE SADNESS- Lamentations 1:16  "For these things I weep; mine eye, mine eye runneth down with water, because the comforter that should relieve my soul is far from me: my children are desolate, because the enemy prevailed." Lamentations 2:11  "Mine eyes do fail with tears, my bowels are troubled, my liver is poured upon the earth, for the destruction of the daughter of my people; because the children and the sucklings swoon in the streets of the city." THE SHOCK-Lamentations 2:15 "All that pass by clap their hands at thee; they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, Is this the city that men call The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth?"  Lamentations 2:20-21  "Behold, O LORD, and consider to whom thou hast done this. Shall the women eat their fruit, and children of a span long? shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord?  21  The young and the old lie on the ground in the streets: my virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword; thou hast slain them in the day of thine anger; thou hast killed, and not pitied." THE SOLUTION-Lamentations 3:40-41  "Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the LORD.  41  Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens."  *This is how I outlined the message of Lamentations.  Well, I've got to go for today.  Tomorrow, I may not be able to write because I will be up and going early for the Men's meeting.  If I get to I will, if not... see you Sunday!  Pastor Mike Mutchler