Truth #152 - God will judge ... every nation, people - Jeremiah 49-52

Jeremiah 48:7
For, because you trusted in your works and your treasures,
you also shall be taken;
and Chemosh shall go into exile
with his priests and his officials.


Truth:  If God brings judgement on His people, He will judge the non-believer ... even if He used the non-believer to judge His people.  In the last chapters of Jeremiah the prophet prophecies the "woes" on the surrounding nations of Judah, as well as the "hammer of God," Babylon.   Babylon and the surrounding nations have been used by God as His hammer to punish His people.  Now, they too, must meet their discipline.   God is a God of justice and no one escapes that judgment.   In this particular chapter God is giving the woe agains Moab.  The Moabites where a thorn in Judah's side for generation.   They were supposed to be wiped out (like sin in our lives) but were allowed to remain (like sin in our lives) ... so they continued to torment Judah (like sin in our lives).  The above verse gives us a good summary of Moab's discipline and of the other surrounding nations.   Like many nations (and many people), Moab had trusted in their own riches and treasures.   Yet, God would bring not only their treasures down, but also their gods into captivity.  "Chemosh" in the above passage is the name of one of the Moabites gods.  It was not uncommon that when a city or nation was taken captive that the captors would not only take all the material goods, but also the gods of those they had conquered.   When we fail to trust in God, He disciplines us, and the things we trusted in and put our faith in (our gods) He also destroys.   God also states, in the above passage, that He will take captive the religious and political leaders.   Moab would be taken captive and her riches, gods and leaders would all be destroyed.  Imagine, if in any society, God had done the same thing ... taken captive your treasure, faith and leadership?  What would the results be?  The financial, political and religious stability of the land would be destroyed.  God will not allow anyone, no matter who they are, to live separate from Him.   We might see the structures and powers of this world seem to be in charge and enjoying their power.  However, God will judge them for this.   God will not allow anyone to escape His justice.   God has, through Christ, defeated death and the punishment of death in our lives, however.  Through faith we have overcome death and the legal demands of God's justice.   Note what Paul tells the Colossian believers:

Colossians 2:13-14
And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

The only way to escape God's justice is to allow Him, through faith, to pay for the penalty of sin, through the death, burial and resurrection of Christ.  The nations surrounding Judah, like Judah herself, had failed to see God's mercy and thus had to endure His justice.