Thought from today’s Bible reading from Jeremiah 23-25.
“Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Because you have not obeyed My words, behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will send to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land and against its inhabitants and against all these nations round about; and I will utterly destroy them and make them a horror and a hissing, and an everlasting desolation’” (Jeremiah 25:8-9).
Divine judgment was coming against the Lord’s people by means of Nebuchadnezzar and the nation of Babylon. God refers to Nebuchadnezzar as His servant, meaning that the king was doing the work of God in punishing the people of Judah.
However, the fact that Nebuchadnezzar was referred to as the Lord’s servant should not be interpreted to mean that he was a righteous king. It is also not an indication that Babylon was replacing Judah as God’s special people. This is made clear as God’s judgment would later be pronounced against Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon.
“‘Then it will be when seventy years are completed I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation,’ declares the Lord, ‘for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans; and I will make it an everlasting desolation. I will bring upon that land My words which I have pronounced against it, all that is written in this book which Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations’” (Jeremiah 25:12-13).
God often used wicked people and nations to do His work. This is not a sign of divine approval, only of their usefulness in carrying out God’s purpose. They would later be destroyed by God for their own wickedness.
It is not enough to simply play some role in the grand scheme of things. We must faithfully obey God (Ecclesiastes 12:13). If we fail to do this, no matter how significant we were or how our actions impacted people and events around us, we will be punished just like the people of Judah and Babylon.
Tomorrow’s reading: Jeremiah 26-29
[I’m using the Chronological reading plan on the Bible Gateway website if you’d like to follow along, too.]
Daily Notes & Observations contains all 365 articles from this series and is available in paperback from Gospel Armory.
AT THE END NEBUCHADNEZZAR KNOWS THE TRUE GOD. SO, CALLING HIM MY SERVANT MIGHT BE MEAN THAT HE USE AS TOOL FOR GOD THROUGH HIS CRUEL AND WICKEDNESS TO PUNISH GODS PEOPLE AND AT THE SAME TIME HE HIMSELF PROCLAIM THE POWER OF GOD AND LOVE TOWARD HIM THROUGHOUT THE WORLD AS WELL AS TO THE JEWISH.
The book of Daniel indicates that Nebuchadnezzar did eventually acknowledge God, but that does not mean he was proclaiming God throughout the world. But before he recognized God, the Lord was able to use him to accomplish His purposes – not because he was faithful, but because he was well capable of inflicting the destruction against the Jews as God’s punishment for their apostasy.