Jeremiah 50:17

 Jeremiah 50:17 says, Israel is a scattered sheep; the lions have driven him away: first the king of Assyria hath devoured him; and last this Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath broken his bones.   God said the people of Israel were like sheep that had been scattered. They had stopped listening to His voice and following His leadership when this happened.  When we, as followers of Christ who are called the sheep of God's pasture, cease to follow His voice, we too can be scattered and defeated by the powers of this world.  Verse eighteen adds, Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria.  God said the king of Babylon would be punished as the king of Assyria had been,  God may have allowed these countries to defeat Israel,  but that did not mean that He held them harmless.   Verse nineteen continues, And I will bring Israel again to his habitation, and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied upon mount Ephraim and Gilead.  God said that He was going to restore the people of Israel to the land He had given them and I believe this was because they were now listening to His voice once more.   Verse twenty states, In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon them whom I reserve.  God said that He would forgive their iniquity and remember it no more.  Again, I believe this was after the people of Israel came to God in repentance and faith.  Through faith in Jesus Christ our sins are forgiven and forgotten, but they can never be just ignored without that faith.  Verse twenty-one says, Go up against the land of Merathaim, even against it, and against the inhabitants of Pekod: waste and utterly destroy after them, saith the LORD, and do according to all that I have commanded thee.  God said that they could go up against the people who had taken their land and be successful if they followed His command.  If we are to be successful in our fight against sin and evil today, we must put our faith in Christ and obey God's word to us.   Verse twenty-two adds, A sound of battle is in the land, and of great destruction.  God said the sound of battle was already in the land.   Verse twenty-three asks, How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken! how is Babylon become a desolation among the nations!  I believe that God was saying that people would ask how Babylon could have been destroyed.  Verse twenty-four declares, I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon, and thou wast not aware: thou art found, and also caught, because thou hast striven against the LORD.  God said that He had defeated them and they weren't even aware that it was happening.  The countries today that stand against God have already been defeated when God's judgment comes and they don't even know it.  Verse twenty-five adds, The LORD hath opened his armoury, and hath brought forth the weapons of his indignation: for this is the work of the Lord GOD of hosts in the land of the Chaldeans.  God said that they were defeated by His power, and if we are going to defeat the power of sin in the world today, it will be through the power of God.  We cannot do it by our own ability.  Verse twenty-six state, Come against her from the utmost border, open her storehouses: cast her up as heaps, and destroy her utterly: let nothing of her be left.  Verse twenty-seven adds, Slay all her bullocks; let them go down to the slaughter: woe unto them! for their day is come, the time of their visitation.  God told the people of Israel to completely destroy the people of Babylon, just as we must completely destroy sin in our life today if we are to successfully follow Christ.   Verse twenty-eight says, The voice of them that flee and escape out of the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of the LORD our God, the vengeance of his temple.  God said that those who escaped would proclaim His power and not the power of the people of Israel.   When we overcome sin and the forces of evil today, we must make sure that we give God the credit.