The Retribution Of God And Combatting Injustice – A Look At Jeremiah - And Vengeance And Retribution Is Mine – And Babylon - Part 4 Series

THE RETRIBUTION OF GOD AND COMBATTING INJUSTICE – A LOOK AT JEREMIAH - AND VENGEANCE AND RETRIBUTION IS MINE – AND BABYLON - PART 4

[A]. A LOOK AT JEREMIAH – A MAN SUFFERING UNDER PERSECUTIONS

After the Lord had revealed to Jeremiah the abject horror awaiting the unrepentant, sinful nation of Judah, the authorities turned on him; he faced persecutors, so Jeremiah prayed very correctly for vengeance upon his persecutors. {{Jeremiah 15:15 “You who know, O Lord, remember me. Take notice of me, and TAKE VENGEANCE FOR ME on my persecutors. Do not, in view of Your patience, take me away. Know that for Your sake I endure reproach.”}} That is the response of a persecuted prophet who wept for the waywardness of the nation, his people. He prayed and yearned and wept above all else that they would repent and God would restore them then, and deliver them by avenging Himself on the enemy.

Jeremiah was perturbed on one occasion about the increase of wickedness and its apparent prosperity without God’s intervening judgment. Here is what he wrote: {{Jeremiah 12:1 “Righteous are You, O Lord, that I would plead my case with You. Indeed I would discuss matters of justice with You. Why has the way of the wicked prospered? Why are all those who deal in treachery at ease?”}} All this tender-hearted prophet could do was to take his case to his Lord. He did that on more than one occasion for he knew that God was the final Arbiter.

Jeremiah was also persecuted by certain of his own nation and it was they who were subverting the truth, and very real enemies they were because they were turning the nation from God. They were God’s enemies, and therefore Jeremiah’s enemies. Pashhur, the chief of the priests, had violently opposed God’s truth and had ordered Jeremiah to be beaten and placed in stocks. The faithful prophet would gladly have refused to proclaim the message from the Lord but there was so much fire burning in the heart, that he could not endure it, and the forthright proclamation of the message would result.

A little further in the book, Jeremiah’s faithful preaching continued to be rejected by those who hated him. Cowards whispered among themselves of Jeremiah, “Terror. Denounce him.” Even Jeremiah’s trusted friends watched for his fall. They hoped for an advantage. They said, “Perhaps he will be deceived so we may prevail against him and take our revenge on him.” In chapter 11 we learn that the prophet had been threatened with death at the hands of the men from Anathoth if he dared to continue his faithful preaching of God’s true word. It was then that the Lord revealed to him that retribution was soon in store for those of Anathoth, and they would be punished by dying themselves by means of sword and famine.

Jeremiah suffered considerably, knowing physical deprivation, beating, slander, rejection, false accusations and many other things. That evil plotting and threatening and maltreatment is always the way of the world. Nothing is spared in the effort to eradicate the righteous or their testimony from the face of the earth. The righteous, and especially among them those who want to count for the Lord, will always be the objects of the enemy’s wrath. In Jeremiah’s case those who opposed him really opposed God so they were His enemies.

But what does Jeremiah do? It is his FAITH that holds to the victory, the very certain knowledge that his God is a personal and proven God. {{Jeremiah 20:11-12 “But the Lord is with me like a dread champion. Therefore my persecutors will stumble and not prevail. They will be utterly ashamed, because they have failed, with an everlasting disgrace that will not be forgotten. Yet, O Lord of hosts, You who test the righteous, who sees the mind and the heart, LET ME SEE YOUR VENGEANCE ON THEM; FOR TO YOU I HAVE SET FORTH MY CAUSE.”}}

Very correctly he calls for God’s vengeance upon the enemy because of their acts against the righteous. God’s retribution would most certainly have come. The men of Anathoth assuredly found the Lord to be Jeremiah’s dread champion. It might be asked, “Who was more correct - David who often avenged himself on the enemy, or Jeremiah who waited for God’s strong hand to prevail against them? Surely both positions are correct under the reign of Mosaic Law and both ways were applied as God saw fit. Of course we have seen that David, too, often waited on God for His justification and retribution from His hand alone.

Most Christians would probably claim Jeremiah as being more correct but his stance, certainly, would be more akin to the requirements of the New Testament though his requests for retribution would be more in keeping with the Tribulation saints already discussed, as Jeremiah 11:20 would suggest - {{“But, O Lord of hosts who judges righteously, who tries the feelings and the heart, let me see Your vengeance on them, for to You have I committed my cause.”}}