only get better

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only get better

Philippians 1:6-11 (JDV)

Philippians 1:6 I have confidence in this, that he who started a good achievement in you will keep perfecting it until the day of Christ Jesus.
Philippians 1:7 In fact, it is right for me to think this way about all of you, because I have you in my heart, and you are all partners with me in favor, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.
Philippians 1:8 You see, God is my attestor, how deeply I miss all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.
Philippians 1:9 And I pray this: that your care will keep on growing in knowledge and every kind of discernment,
Philippians 1:10 so that you may evaluate the things that are superior and may be pure and blameless in the day of Christ,
Philippians 1:11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.

only get better

Paul’s is confident that the Philippian congregations will only get better. The fact that they have stayed true to him, supporting him even after he was imprisoned — showed that they had not given up on the gospel which Paul was called to defend and confirm.

His prayer for them is that they would keep on growing in knowledge and discernment, even if he would not be available to teach them. He did not take purity and blamelessness for granted. He prayed earnestly for the Philippians to get pure and stay pure. That was the only way to be filled with the fruit of righteousness.

Lord, we make it our aim to keep true to the gospel, to keep growing in knowledge, and to get pure and stay pure. If we must change, we vow to only get better.

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partnership in the gospel

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partnership in the gospel

Philippians 1:1-5 (JDV)

Philippians 1:1 Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus: To all the devotees in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and assistants.
Philippians 1:2 Favor to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Philippians 1:3 I give thanks to my God every time someone mentions you,
Philippians 1:4 always praying joyfully for all of you in my every prayer,
Philippians 1:5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.

partnership in the gospel

Paul and Timothy were writing a missionary newsletter to their supporting congregations in Philippi. Paul begins their newsletter with prayer that God would continue to favor those believers and give them peace, and he thanks God every time someone mentions these dear people. Why? Because they are supporting the work of spreading the gospel through his missionary team.

By supporting missionaries, believers are partnering in their mission. Without those who go, people will not hear the gospel. Without those who send and support, missionaries cannot go.

Lord, thank you for all the sending congregations who partner with missionaries in the gospel.

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no sequel

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no sequel

Jeremiah 52:31-34 (JDV)

Jeremiah 52:31 On the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month of the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Judah’s King Jehoiachin, King Evil-merodach of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, pardoned King Jehoiachin of Judah and took him out from prison.
Jeremiah 52:32 He spoke kindly to him and set his throne above the thrones of the kings who were with him in Babylon.
Jeremiah 52:33 So Jehoiachin changed his prison clothes, and he dined regularly in the presence of the king of Babylon for the rest of his life.
Jeremiah 52:34 As for his provision, a regular provision was given to him by the king of Babylon, something for each day until the day of his death, for the rest of his life.

no sequel

Jeremiah concludes his book by recounting some of the historical events, including the fall of Jerusalem and the deporting and deaths of many of its leaders. The book begs for a sequel, but we do not get one. The people of God must wait for the seventy years of exile to be completed, and trust that the LORD will make good his promises. Sometimes we do not get the happy ending we long for in this life. We can take comfort from the fact that our LORD has plans for us that will be fulfilled long after we die. Nothing can separate us from his love.

LORD, give us patience to wait with confidence.

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e-books by Jefferson Vann

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655 pages     Price: $4.99, US.

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Systematic Theologies answer the questions that people have about God and the universe. This book is an example of a systematic theology written from a viewpoint shared by members of the Advent Christian denomination.

881 pages     Price: $4.99, US.

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words-from-the-collector

           Words from the Collector

               He collected everything from money to buildings to                               women, but he is most famous for collecting wise sayings.                   His name is Solomon, and one of the books we have from                     him is called Ecclesiastes.

               This is a new translation of that Old Testament book                             Ecclesiastes, and a reader’s guide to its content.

                                                  65 pages      $5.00 US 

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             Finding Gold in Genesis

                 Gold can be found throughout the pages of this book. It is a                     simple book, with a new translation of Genesis, some                                devotional thoughts, and some prayers. But there is gold                          here.  I challenge you to find it.

                 172 pages     $ 4.99 US

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stripped city

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stripped city

Jeremiah 52:12-30 (JDV)

Jeremiah 52:12 On the tenth day of the fifth month – which was during the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon – Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guards, entered Jerusalem as the representative of the king of Babylon.
Jeremiah 52:13 He burned Yahveh’s temple, the king’s palace, all the houses of Jerusalem; he burned down all the great houses.
Jeremiah 52:14 The whole Chaldean army with the captain of the guards tore down all the walls surrounding Jerusalem.
Jeremiah 52:15 Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guards, deported some of the poorest of the people, as well as the rest of the people who remained in the city, the deserters who had defected to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the craftsmen.
Jeremiah 52:16 But Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guards, left some of the poorest of the land to be vintners and farmers.
Jeremiah 52:17 Now the Chaldeans broke into pieces the bronze pillars for Yahveh’s temple and the water carts and the bronze basin that were in Yahveh’s temple, and they carried all that bronze to Babylon.
Jeremiah 52:18 They also took the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, sprinkling basins, dishes, and all the bronze articles used in the temple service.
Jeremiah 52:19 The captain of the guards took away the bowls, fire-pans, sprinkling basins, pots, lamp-stands, pans, and drink offering bowls – whatever was gold or silver.
Jeremiah 52:20 As for the two pillars, the one basin, with the twelve bronze oxen under it, and the water carts that King Solomon had made for Yahveh’s temple, the weight of the bronze of all these articles was not countable.
Jeremiah 52:21 One pillar was 27 feet tall, had a circumference of 18 feet, was hollow – four fingers thick –
Jeremiah 52:22 and had a bronze capital on top of it. One capital, encircled by bronze grating and pomegranates, stood 7 1/2 feet high. The second pillar was the same, with pomegranates.
Jeremiah 52:23 Each capital had ninety-six pomegranates on the winds. All the pomegranates around the grating numbered one hundred.
Jeremiah 52:24 The captain of the guards also took away Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the priest of the second rank, and the three doorkeepers.
Jeremiah 52:25 From the city he took a court official who had been appointed over the warriors; seven trusted royal aides found in the city; the secretary of the commander of the army, who enlisted the people of the land for military duty; and sixty men from the common people who were found within the city.
Jeremiah 52:26 Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guards, took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.
Jeremiah 52:27 The king of Babylon put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah went into exile from its land.
Jeremiah 52:28 These are the people Nebuchadnezzar deported: in the seventh year, 3,023 Jews;
Jeremiah 52:29 in his eighteenth year, 832 people from Jerusalem;
Jeremiah 52:30 in Nebuchadnezzar’s twenty-third year, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guards, deported 745 Jews. Altogether, 4,600 people were deported.

stripped city

The devastation of Jerusalem was unthinkable. It’s buildings and temple courts were stripped bare, its citizens deported, its officials captured and killed.

The chronicler of this disaster writes as though he is weeping at his parchment. Yes, it was allowed by God, but that does not mean that the Babylonian empire could escape justice when it was time to pay for what they did.

There are many injustices taking place all around us this day, and God’s Holy Spirit is aware of them all. Nothing is hidden from Him. Nothing will escape his judgment.

If you are experiencing injustice, betrayal, abandonment, abuse — you can be sure that our Lord knows it.

Lord, we choose to trust you through the times of injustice, and hope for restoration in the future.

watch the video


sermon audio

e-books by Jefferson Vann

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Another Bible Commentary

A devotional commentary on every passage in the Bible (based on the English Standard Version –ESV).

655 pages     Price: $4.99, US.

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an Advent Christian systematic theology

Systematic Theologies answer the questions that people have about God and the universe. This book is an example of a systematic theology written from a viewpoint shared by members of the Advent Christian denomination.

881 pages     Price: $4.99, US.

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words-from-the-collector

           Words from the Collector

               He collected everything from money to buildings to                               women, but he is most famous for collecting wise sayings.                   His name is Solomon, and one of the books we have from                     him is called Ecclesiastes.

               This is a new translation of that Old Testament book                             Ecclesiastes, and a reader’s guide to its content.

                                                  65 pages      $5.00 US 

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             Finding Gold in Genesis

                 Gold can be found throughout the pages of this book. It is a                     simple book, with a new translation of Genesis, some                                devotional thoughts, and some prayers. But there is gold                          here.  I challenge you to find it.

                 172 pages     $ 4.99 US

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kept in Babylon

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kept in Babylon

Jeremiah 52:1-11 (JDV)

Jeremiah 52:1 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah; she had been from Libnah.
Jeremiah 52:2 Zedekiah did what was evil in Yahveh’s sight just as Jehoiakim had done.
Jeremiah 52:3 Because of Yahveh’s anger, it happened in Jerusalem and Judah that he finally banished them from his presence. Then Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.
Jeremiah 52:4 In the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon advanced against Jerusalem with his entire army. They laid siege to the city and built a siege wall against its circumference.
Jeremiah 52:5 The city was under siege until King Zedekiah’s eleventh year.
Jeremiah 52:6 By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was so severe in the city that the common people had no food.
Jeremiah 52:7 Then the city was broken into, and all the warriors fled. They left the city at night by way of the city gate between the two walls near the king’s garden, though the Chaldeans surrounded the city. They made their way along the route to the Arabah.
Jeremiah 52:8 The Chaldean army pursued the king and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. Zedekiah’s entire army left him and dispersed.
Jeremiah 52:9 The Chaldeans seized the king and brought him to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he passed sentence on him.
Jeremiah 52:10 At Riblah the king of Babylon slaughtered Zedekiah’s sons before his eyes, and he also slaughtered the Judean commanders.
Jeremiah 52:11 Then he blinded Zedekiah and bound him with bronze chains. The king of Babylon brought Zedekiah to Babylon, where he kept him in custody until the day he died.

kept in Babylon

Zedekiah’s fate was due to his failure to live up to his responsibilities as king of God’s covenant people. He witnessed the deaths of his sons, and was kept alive long enough for him to see the results of his disobedience.

Some might suggest that Zedekiah’s fate shows that God will keep the wicked burning in hell. Not so. Zedekiah did stay alive for a time, but he eventually died in Babylon, and was never restored. Likewise, we don’t know how long any individual will suffer in hell. But the goal of hell is not the suffering, it is to destroy all God’s enemies. Like Zedekiah, all the enemies of Christ will eventually die, and then the last enemy: death itself will be destroyed (1 Corinthians 15:26).

watch the video

sermon audio

e-books by Jefferson Vann

content-4405019-DIGITAL_BOOK_THUMBNAIL

Another Bible Commentary

A devotional commentary on every passage in the Bible (based on the English Standard Version –ESV).

655 pages     Price: $4.99, US.

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content-4429309-DIGITAL_BOOK_THUMBNAIL

an Advent Christian systematic theology

Systematic Theologies answer the questions that people have about God and the universe. This book is an example of a systematic theology written from a viewpoint shared by members of the Advent Christian denomination.

881 pages     Price: $4.99, US.

Click-here-to-order-now-button


words-from-the-collector

           Words from the Collector

               He collected everything from money to buildings to                               women, but he is most famous for collecting wise sayings.                   His name is Solomon, and one of the books we have from                     him is called Ecclesiastes.

               This is a new translation of that Old Testament book                             Ecclesiastes, and a reader’s guide to its content.

                                                  65 pages      $5.00 US 

Click-here-to-order-now-button

             Finding Gold in Genesis

                 Gold can be found throughout the pages of this book. It is a                     simple book, with a new translation of Genesis, some                                devotional thoughts, and some prayers. But there is gold                          here.  I challenge you to find it.

                 172 pages     $ 4.99 US

Click-here-to-order-now-button


Lord, give us the wisdom to live lives that honor you — lives that we will not regret.

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sunk to never rise

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sunk to never rise

Jeremiah 51:59-64 (JDV)

Jeremiah 51:59 This is the wording the prophet Jeremiah used when he commanded Seraiah son of Neriah son of Mahseiah, the quartermaster, when he went to Babylon with King Zedekiah of Judah in the fourth year of Zedekiah’s reign.
Jeremiah 51:60 Jeremiah wrote on one scroll about all the disaster that would come to Babylon; all these words were written against Babylon.
Jeremiah 51:61 Jeremiah told Seraiah, “When you get to Babylon, see that you read all these words aloud.
Jeremiah 51:62 Say, ‘Yahveh, you have threatened to cut off this place so that no one will live in it – people or animals. Indeed, it will become permanently desolate.’
Jeremiah 51:63 When you have finished reading this scroll, tie a stone to it and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates River.
Jeremiah 51:64 Then say, ‘In the same way, Babylon will sink and never rise again because of the disaster I am bringing on her. They will grow weary.'” Up to this point are the words of Jeremiah.

sunk to never rise

We have been looking at Jeremiah’s predictions about Babylon. We have been noticing two things that are true of each of these prophecies. First, each of these predictions came true. The empire is no more, just as God predicted through Jeremiah.

Secondly, each of these prophecies about Babylon reflects an element of the New Testament teaching about the fate of the wicked at the last judgment. This is not a coincidence. The Revelation to John in the New Testament uses Babylon as a symbol of the great conspiracy of all nations against God’s Kingdom and God’s Messiah.

Yesterday’s text focused on two ways of expressing the fate of those who oppose God and his will: fire and permanent sleep. Today’s text introduces another way of expressing that fate. Babylon will be sunk like a great ship, never to rise again.

watch the video

sermon audio

e-books by Jefferson Vann

content-4405019-DIGITAL_BOOK_THUMBNAIL

Another Bible Commentary

A devotional commentary on every passage in the Bible (based on the English Standard Version –ESV).

655 pages     Price: $4.99, US.

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content-4429309-DIGITAL_BOOK_THUMBNAIL

an Advent Christian systematic theology

Systematic Theologies answer the questions that people have about God and the universe. This book is an example of a systematic theology written from a viewpoint shared by members of the Advent Christian denomination.

881 pages     Price: $4.99, US.

Click-here-to-order-now-button


words-from-the-collector

           Words from the Collector

               He collected everything from money to buildings to                               women, but he is most famous for collecting wise sayings.                   His name is Solomon, and one of the books we have from                     him is called Ecclesiastes.

               This is a new translation of that Old Testament book                             Ecclesiastes, and a reader’s guide to its content.

                                                  65 pages      $5.00 US 

Click-here-to-order-now-button

             Finding Gold in Genesis

                 Gold can be found throughout the pages of this book. It is a                     simple book, with a new translation of Genesis, some                                devotional thoughts, and some prayers. But there is gold                          here.  I challenge you to find it.

                 172 pages     $ 4.99 US

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All three of these descriptions of Babylon’s fate are indicative of the ultimate fate of the lost: permanent destruction.

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Babylon’s fate

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Babylon’s fate

Jeremiah 51:54-58 (JDV)

Jeremiah 51:54 A sound of a cry from Babylon! And a terrible collapse of the land of the Chaldeans!
Jeremiah 51:55 You see, Yahveh is going to devastate Babylon; he will silence her mighty voice. Their waves roar like a huge torrent; the tumult of their voice resounds,
Jeremiah 51:56 because a destroyer is coming against her, against Babylon. Her warriors will be captured, their bows shattered, because Yahveh is a God of retribution; he will certainly repay.
Jeremiah 51:57 I will make her princes and sages drunk, along with her governors, officials, and warriors. Then they will fall asleep permanently and not wake up. This is the King’s declaration; Yahveh of Armies is his name.
Jeremiah 51:58 This is what Yahveh of Armies says: Babylon’s thick walls will be totally demolished, and her high gates set ablaze. The peoples will have labored for nothing; the nations will worn themselves out only to feed the fire.

Babylon’s fate

Once again, Jeremiah declares to Babylon that a permanent sleep awaits them (see verse 39). But he also says that its people and nations will have worn itself out, only to feed the fire. Normally, we don’t talk about sleeping and fire at the same time. But in this case, both are symbols of the complete destruction that Babylon would experience. They would be annihilated as a result of God’s judgment for their sins.

The final judgment will be like that for all those who reject Jesus. There is only one hell, and is not a place where people will have the luxury of consciousness. It is a place where the torment is real, because those who experience it are being consumed by fire. Its result will be permanent destruction.

Lord, we cling to you, and trust your grace to keep us from Babylon’s fate.

sermon audio

e-books by Jefferson Vann

content-4405019-DIGITAL_BOOK_THUMBNAIL

Another Bible Commentary

A devotional commentary on every passage in the Bible (based on the English Standard Version –ESV).

655 pages     Price: $4.99, US.

Click-here-to-order-now-button


content-4429309-DIGITAL_BOOK_THUMBNAIL

an Advent Christian systematic theology

Systematic Theologies answer the questions that people have about God and the universe. This book is an example of a systematic theology written from a viewpoint shared by members of the Advent Christian denomination.

881 pages     Price: $4.99, US.

Click-here-to-order-now-button


words-from-the-collector

           Words from the Collector

               He collected everything from money to buildings to                               women, but he is most famous for collecting wise sayings.                   His name is Solomon, and one of the books we have from                     him is called Ecclesiastes.

               This is a new translation of that Old Testament book                             Ecclesiastes, and a reader’s guide to its content.

                                                  65 pages      $5.00 US 

Click-here-to-order-now-button

             Finding Gold in Genesis

                 Gold can be found throughout the pages of this book. It is a                     simple book, with a new translation of Genesis, some                                devotional thoughts, and some prayers. But there is gold                          here.  I challenge you to find it.

                 172 pages     $ 4.99 US

Click-here-to-order-now-button


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cooperate or get away

auckland-botanic-gardens-20160926-67

cooperate or get away

Jeremiah 51:45-53 (JDV)

Jeremiah 51:45 Come out from among her, my people! Save your lives, each of you, from Yahveh’s burning anger.
Jeremiah 51:46 May you not become cowardly and fearful when the report is proclaimed in the land, because the report will come one year, and then another the next year. There will be violence in the land with ruler against ruler.
Jeremiah 51:47 Therefore, notice, the days are coming when I will punish Babylon’s carved images. Her entire land will suffer shame, and all her victims will lie fallen within her.
Jeremiah 51:48 The sky and land and everything in them will shout for joy over Babylon because the destroyers from the north will come against her. This is what Yahveh declares.
Jeremiah 51:49 Babylon must fall because of the victims from Israel, even as the victims from the whole land fell because of Babylon.
Jeremiah 51:50 You who have escaped the sword, go and do not stand still! Remember Yahveh from far away, and let Jerusalem come to your mind.
Jeremiah 51:51 We are ashamed because we have heard insults. Humiliation covers our faces because foreigners have entered the sacred places of Yahveh ‘s temple.
Jeremiah 51:52 Therefore, notice, the days are coming – this is what Yahveh declares – when I will punish her carved images, and the victims will groan throughout her land.
Jeremiah 51:53 Even if Babylon should ascend to the sky and fortify her tall fortresses, destroyers will come against her from me. This is what Yahveh declares.

cooperate or get away

When the lord first sent Babylon to do its destroying work, his message through Jeremiah was that his people should settle in and live at peace with the Babylonians, because their power and control were God’s will.

Now, Jeremiah is told to reverse his message. The plan for Babylonian rule has run its course. It is now time to get out and get away.

How do we know what attitude is the right one to have in our present situation? Is God calling us to cooperate or escape?

We don’t know. Unless we get undeniable directions from the lord, we should do what we think he wants, and respect those who choose a different path.

Lord, give us discernment for this confusing time.

watch the video

sermon audio

e-books by Jefferson Vann

content-4405019-DIGITAL_BOOK_THUMBNAIL

Another Bible Commentary

A devotional commentary on every passage in the Bible (based on the English Standard Version –ESV).

655 pages     Price: $4.99, US.

Click-here-to-order-now-button


content-4429309-DIGITAL_BOOK_THUMBNAIL

an Advent Christian systematic theology

Systematic Theologies answer the questions that people have about God and the universe. This book is an example of a systematic theology written from a viewpoint shared by members of the Advent Christian denomination.

881 pages     Price: $4.99, US.

Click-here-to-order-now-button


words-from-the-collector

           Words from the Collector

               He collected everything from money to buildings to                               women, but he is most famous for collecting wise sayings.                   His name is Solomon, and one of the books we have from                     him is called Ecclesiastes.

               This is a new translation of that Old Testament book                             Ecclesiastes, and a reader’s guide to its content.

                                                  65 pages      $5.00 US 

Click-here-to-order-now-button

             Finding Gold in Genesis

                 Gold can be found throughout the pages of this book. It is a                     simple book, with a new translation of Genesis, some                                devotional thoughts, and some prayers. But there is gold                          here.  I challenge you to find it.

                 172 pages     $ 4.99 US

Click-here-to-order-now-button


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they will fall asleep permanently

auckland-botanic-gardens-20160926-69

they will fall asleep permanently

Jeremiah 51:36-44 (JDV)

Jeremiah 51:36 Therefore, this is what Yahveh says: I am about to champion your cause and take vengeance on your behalf; I will dry up her sea and make her fountain run dry.
Jeremiah 51:37 Babylon will become a heap of rubble, a jackals’ den, a desolation and an object of scorn, without inhabitant.
Jeremiah 51:38 They will roar together like young lions; they will growl like lion cubs.
Jeremiah 51:39 While they are flushed with heat, I will serve them a feast, and I will make them drunk so that they celebrate. Then they will fall asleep permanently and not wake up. This is what Yahveh declares.
Jeremiah 51:40 I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams together with male goats.
Jeremiah 51:41 How Sheshach has been captured, the praise of the whole land seized. What a horror Babylon has become among the nations!
Jeremiah 51:42 The sea has risen over Babylon; she is covered with its tumultuous waves.
Jeremiah 51:43 Her cities have become a desolation, an arid desert, a land where no one lives, where no human being even passes through.
Jeremiah 51:44 I will punish Bel in Babylon. I will make him vomit what he swallowed. The nations will no longer stream to him; even Babylon’s wall will fall.

they will fall asleep permanently

The ultimate end of the Babylonian empire was described by Jeremiah as a permanent sleep from which it would not wake up. It was to become a desolation, an arid desert land where nobody lives. Such is the fate of all those who take their stand against God.

Some people think that God made us all with an immortal core that even he cannot destroy. That is not the picture of his judgment that he gave us in his word. At the end, all who refuse to turn to God will be destroyed by him — body and soul — in Gehenna. There is no place in his new creation for the old rebellion.

Lord, thank you for your ultimate justice. Thank you also for your gospel, calling people from rebellion to repentance.

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               He collected everything from money to buildings to                               women, but he is most famous for collecting wise sayings.                   His name is Solomon, and one of the books we have from                     him is called Ecclesiastes.

               This is a new translation of that Old Testament book                             Ecclesiastes, and a reader’s guide to its content.

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                 Gold can be found throughout the pages of this book. It is a                     simple book, with a new translation of Genesis, some                                devotional thoughts, and some prayers. But there is gold                          here.  I challenge you to find it.

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the devourer, devoured

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the devourer, devoured

Jeremiah 51:20-35 (JDV)

Jeremiah 51:20 You are my war club, my weapons of war. With you I will smash nations; with you I will bring kingdoms to ruin.
Jeremiah 51:21 With you I will smash the horse and its rider; with you I will smash the chariot and its rider.
Jeremiah 51:22 With you I will smash man and woman; with you I will smash the old man and the youth; with you I will smash the young man and the young woman.
Jeremiah 51:23 With you I will smash the shepherd and his flock; with you I will smash the farmer and his ox-team. With you I will smash governors and officials.
Jeremiah 51:24 “Before your very eyes, I will repay Babylon and all the residents of Chaldea for all their evil they have done in Zion.” This is what Yahveh declares.
Jeremiah 51:25 Look, I am against you, devastating mountain. This is what Yahveh declares. You devastate the whole land. I will stretch out my hand against you, roll you down from the cliffs, and turn you into a charred mountain.
Jeremiah 51:26 No one will be able to retrieve a cornerstone or a foundation stone from you, because you will become a permanent desolation. This is what Yahveh declares.
Jeremiah 51:27 Raise a signal flag in the land; blow a ram’s horn among the nations; commit the nations against her. Summon kingdoms against her – Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz. Appoint a marshal against her; bring up horses like a swarm of locusts.
Jeremiah 51:28 Commit the nations for battle against her – the kings of Media, her governors and all her officials, and all the lands they rule.
Jeremiah 51:29 The land quakes and trembles because Yahveh’s intentions against Babylon stand: to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without inhabitant.
Jeremiah 51:30 Babylon’s warriors have stopped fighting; they sit in their strongholds. Their might is exhausted; they have become like women. Babylon’s homes have been set ablaze, her gate bars are shattered.
Jeremiah 51:31 Messenger races to meet messenger, and herald to meet herald, to announce to the king of Babylon that his city has been captured from end to end.
Jeremiah 51:32 The fords have been seized, the marshes set on fire, and the fighting men are terrified.
Jeremiah 51:33 You see, this is what Yahveh of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Daughter Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time it is trampled. In just a little while her harvest time will come.
Jeremiah 51:34 “King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon has devoured me; he has crushed me. He has set me aside like an empty dish; he has swallowed me like a sea monster; he filled his belly with my delicacies; he has vomited me out.
Jeremiah 51:35 Let the violence done to me and my family be done to Babylon,” says the inhabitant of Zion. “Let my blood be on the inhabitants of Chaldea,” says Jerusalem.

the devourer, devoured

Jeremiah’s message to Babylon is that they have devoured many nations, including God’s nation. It is now their turn to be devoured.

Evil continues to take advantage of weak and helpless people, devouring them. But God has a word for all of us. He is fed up with the oppression and violence, and he is going to devour the devourers.

Lord, we trust you to bring justice to those eaten up by evil.

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Last week’s sermon

e-books by Jefferson Vann

content-4405019-DIGITAL_BOOK_THUMBNAIL

Another Bible Commentary

A devotional commentary on every passage in the Bible (based on the English Standard Version –ESV).

655 pages     Price: $4.99, US.

Click-here-to-order-now-button


content-4429309-DIGITAL_BOOK_THUMBNAIL

an Advent Christian systematic theology

Systematic Theologies answer the questions that people have about God and the universe. This book is an example of a systematic theology written from a viewpoint shared by members of the Advent Christian denomination.

881 pages     Price: $4.99, US.

Click-here-to-order-now-button


words-from-the-collector

           Words from the Collector

               He collected everything from money to buildings to                               women, but he is most famous for collecting wise sayings.                   His name is Solomon, and one of the books we have from                     him is called Ecclesiastes.

               This is a new translation of that Old Testament book                             Ecclesiastes, and a reader’s guide to its content.

                                                  65 pages      $5.00 US 

Click-here-to-order-now-button

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                 Gold can be found throughout the pages of this book. It is a                     simple book, with a new translation of Genesis, some                                devotional thoughts, and some prayers. But there is gold                          here.  I challenge you to find it.

                 172 pages     $ 4.99 US

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