And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13.

We were buried with Him…that just as Christ was raised from the dead…even so we also should walk in newness of life. Romans 6:4.

But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:31 NKJV.

This second chapter dealing with Babylon, Jeremiah 51, is so long. How can it not be? Babylon represents everything in this broken world that is wrong and evil. To give it up is a kind of death because it’s all we know. “Flee from Babylon! Run for your lives! Do not be destroyed because of her sins. It is time for the Lord’s vengeance; He will repay her what she deserves. Babylon was a gold cup in the Lord’s hand; she made the whole earth drunk. The nations drank her wine; therefore they have now gone mad. Babylon will suddenly fall and be broken. Wail over her! Get balm for her pain; perhaps she can be healed. ‘We would have healed Babylon, but she cannot be healed; let us leave her and each go to our own land, for her judgment reaches to the skies, it rises as high as the heavens.’…You who live by many waters and are rich in treasures, your end has come, the time for you to be destroyed…He made the earth by His power; He founded the world by His wisdom and stretched out the heavens by His understanding. When He thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth. He sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from His storehouses. Everyone is senseless and without knowledge; every goldsmith is shamed by his idols. The images he makes are a fraud; they have no breath in them…He who is the Portion of Jacob is not like these, for He is the Maker of all things, including the people of His inheritance – the Lord Almighty is His name…I am against you, you destroying mountain, you who destroy the whole earth,” declares the Lord. v. 6-9, 13, 15-17, 19, 25. There are 64 verses and all worth reading. Jeremiah never went to Babylon, so he had written on a scroll all the disasters that would come upon Babylon, gave them to the staff officer, Seraiah, to read the words aloud in Babylon, and then tie it to a stone and throw it into the Euphrates, v. 59-64. And these final words of this chapter, The words of Jeremiah end here. v. 64. And the way of Babylon? “Come out of her, My people! Run for your lives! Run from the fierce anger of the Lord. Do not lose heart or be afraid when rumors are heard in the land; one rumor comes this year, another the next, rumors of violence in the land and of ruler against ruler. For the time will surely come when I will punish the idols of Babylon; her whole land will be disgraced and her slain will all lie fallen within her. Then heaven and earth and all that is in them will shout for joy over Babylon, for out of the north destroyers will attack her,” declares the Lord. “Babylon must fall because of Israel’s slain, just as the slain in all the earth have fallen because of Babylon. v. 45-49. Why does Babylon then and now need to fall? The slain in all the earth have fallen because of Babylon.

There is a reason Creator God – Father, Son, Spirit, teaches us. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. Can we begin to see as we look around at this world and its violence, that giving up doubt, despair and hate – and all the other ills of this broken world, are a kind of death? All of it must fall. All of it must be destroyed. And we must be willing to let them die in us…so we can take God’s hand and walk with Him in the good He wants for us with Him for eternity. God’s love is so beautiful! His truth helps us walk in newness with Him even as we inhabit this broken, dying world. His teaching in our hearts is gentle because He knows all we have experienced and the pains and hurts we have suffered. We have suffered enough. Let God’s love begin a healing in you that is His to bring. He’s here. Always!