abylon's doom; God's controversy with her; encouragements
from thence to the Israel of God. (1-58) The confirming of this.
(59-64)
Verses 1-58: The particulars of this prophecy are dispersed and
interwoven, and the same things left and returned to again.
Babylon is abundant in treasures, yet neither her waters nor her
wealth shall secure her. Destruction comes when they did not
think of it. Wherever we are, in the greatest depths, at the
greatest distances, we are to remember the Lord our God; and in
the times of the greatest fears and hopes, it is most needful to
remember the Lord. The feeling excited by Babylon's fall is the
same with the New Testament Babylon, (Re 18:9,19). The ruin of
all who support idolatry, infidelity, and superstition, is
needful for the revival of true godliness; and the threatening
prophecies of Scripture yield comfort in this view. The great
seat of antichristian tyranny, idolatry, and superstition, the
persecutor of true Christians, is as certainly doomed to
destruction as ancient Babylon. Then will vast multitudes mourn
for sin, and seek the Lord. Then will the lost sheep of the
house of Israel be brought back to the fold of the good
Shepherd, and stray no more. And the exact fulfilment of these
ancient prophecies encourages us to faith in all the promises
and prophecies of the sacred Scriptures.
Verses 59-64: This prophecy is sent to Babylon, to the captives there,
by Seraiah, who is to read it to his countrymen in captivity.
Let them with faith see the end of these threatening powers, and
comfort themselves herewith. When we see what this world is, how
glittering its shows, and how flattering its proposals, let us
read in the book of the Lord that it shall shortly be desolate.
The book must be thrown into the river Euphrates. The fall of
the New Testament Babylon is thus represented, (Re 18:21). Those
that sink under the weight of God's wrath and curse, sink for
ever. Babylon, and every antichrist, will soon sink and rise no
more for ever. Let us hope in God's word, and quietly wait for
his salvation; then we shall see, but shall not share, the
destruction of the wicked.
abylon's doom; God's controversy with her; encouragements
from thence to the Israel of God. (1-58) The confirming of this.
(59-64)