“How long will it take for you to avenge us?” That’s what God’s people have been crying out ever since Cain killed Abel. From the Babylonians who tore down the First Temple of the Lord, to the Romans who destroyed the Second Temple and who put Christians to death because they would not bow down before statues of Caesar, from the Dark Age Muslims who murdered Christians in North Africa to the Vikings who plundered Irish monasteries, from the Roman Catholics who forbade Protestant worship among Mississippi’s first settlers to the “cancel culture” that seeks to punish modern Americans who refuse to go along with the latest perversions inspired by the sexual revolution, there have always been powerful people who have tried to stamp out faithfulness to God and His Word.

But the good news that we find in the last of Jeremiah’s prophecies is that even the most powerful of history’s villains will eventually be punished for all their foul deeds. Yes, even though Jeremiah never lived to see it happen, God promised to send the sword against all the wicked Babylonians, those who had conquered and plundered all their neighbors (50:35-36). God promised to catch the Babylonians in the same sort of snare in which they had captured the people of all of the known world (50:24-25).

And even though God’s people will continue to cry out for vindication until the Lord Jesus comes again (Revelation 6:9-11), on that Day the Lord will indeed bring down all the powerful kingdoms that dare to set themselves up in opposition to God’s people. For no matter how great a mountain of pride and power any human kingdom may build up, all who try to destroy the earth will themselves end up being destroyed (Jeremiah 51:25; see also Revelation 8:8).

But, while powerful evil rages all around us, how can we be sure that God will eventually vindicate His people? Jeremiah simply encourages us to recount the work of the Lord (51:10), the great deeds He has already done. For the Lord’s power and wisdom were great enough to create the heavens and the earth. And in that same power and wisdom, the Lord is the One Who sends the rain and the wind where He wishes (51:15-16). So, can even the wisest and most powerful combination of mere human beings possibly compare to Him? Can anything else we might be tempted to worship possibly save us or vindicate us (51:17-18)?

So, regardless of the tough times that will come our way, those who belong to the inheritance of the Lord, those who have been joined to Christ by faith have nothing to fear. For our God is the Lord of hosts, the commander of all the legions of angels in heaven (51:19). And He is coming to set all things right and to make all things new – someday.

Jeremiah 51:15-26 (NASB)

15 It is He who made the earth by His power, Who established the world by His wisdom, And by His understanding He stretched out the heavens.
16 When He utters His voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, And He causes the clouds to ascend from the end of the earth; He makes lightning for the rain, And brings forth the wind from His storehouses.
17 All mankind is stupid, devoid of knowledge; Every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols, For his molten images are deceitful, And there is no breath in them.
18 They are worthless, a work of mockery; In the time of their punishment they will perish.
19 The portion of Jacob is not like these; For the Maker of all is He, And of the tribe of His inheritance; The LORD of hosts is His name.
20 He says, “You are My war-club, My weapon of war; And with you I shatter nations, And with you I destroy kingdoms.
21 “And with you I shatter the horse and his rider,
22 And with you I shatter the chariot and its rider, And with you I shatter man and woman, And with you I shatter old man and youth, And with you I shatter young man and virgin,
23 And with you I shatter the shepherd and his flock, And with you I shatter the farmer and his team, And with you I shatter governors and prefects.
24 “But I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea for all their evil that they have done in Zion before your eyes,” declares the LORD.
25 “Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain, Who destroys the whole earth,” declares the LORD, “And I will stretch out My hand against you, And roll you down from the crags And I will make you a burnt out mountain.
26 “And they will not take from you even a stone for a corner Nor a stone for foundations, But you will be desolate forever,” declares the LORD.