“Look at the nations and watch—and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told. I am raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people, who sweep across the whole earth to seize dwelling places not their own. They are a feared and dreaded people; they are a law to themselves and promote their own honor. They fly like a vulture swooping to devour; they all come bent on violence. Their hordes advance like a desert wind and gather prisoners like sand. They deride kings and scoff at rulers. They laugh at all fortified cities; they build earthen ramps and capture them. Then they sweep past like the wind and go on—guilty men, whose own strength is their god.” (Habakkuk 1:5–7, 8-11, NIV 1984).
My Musings – “If [God’s] people, who are called by [His] name, will [not] humble themselves [or] pray [or] seek [His] face [or] turn from their wicked ways,” (2 Chronicles 7:14, NIV 1984), what will happen to their land? If they fail to heed the warnings of their prophets and His Word. what is left but discipline. What’s more, who is left to carry out that discipline? For Israel, it was the Assyrians. For Judah, God “[raised] up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people…guilty men, whose own strength is their god.” Babylon’s judgment would come, just as it did for the Assyrians, but first God would use them as an instrument of His divine justice.
My Advice – That was then. What about now? There is a “type” of Babylon in the end times that God will raise up. “Days of distress unequaled from the beginning, when God created the world, until now—and never to be equaled again. If the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, whom he has chosen, he has shortened them.” (Mark 13:19–20, NIV 1984). Be a survivor. Be one of the elect.
The Brew Is A Musing 