Babylon – Page 2 – The Nexus

Morning Musing: Jeremiah 29:7

March 27, 2019March 26, 2019Leave a comment

“Pursue the well-being of the city I have deported you to. Pray to the Lord on its behalf, for when it thrives, you will thrive.”‬‬ (CSB – Read the chapter)

How do you live in the context of a hostile culture? As followers of Jesus in an American context, that is a question becoming more and more relevant to our lives every single day. Now, our brothers and sisters around the world and at various times in history have had to live with that question much more pressingly than we have in our lifetimes, but things are changing around us. What do we do? Jeremiah offers some advice to the people of Israel here that we would do well to consider.

Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: Ezekiel 9:9

January 17, 2018January 15, 2018Leave a comment

“Then he said to me, ‘The guilt of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great. The land is full of blood, and the city full of injustice. For they say, “The Lord has forsaken the land, and the Lord does not see.”‘” (ESV – Read the chapter)

Ezekiel was prophesying during a hard season in the life of the people of Israel. The good and faithful King Josiah had instituted incredible moral and spiritual reforms among the people. But after his death, the people went right back to the paganism they had pursued before him. This proved to be the final straw. God sent Babylon to enact His judgment against the people. Read the rest…

Morning Musings: Isaiah 45:4-6

October 20, 2017October 18, 2017Leave a comment

“For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name, I name you, though you do not know me. I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me, that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the Lord, and there is no other.” (ESV – Read the chapter)

These verses and the few on either side comprise God’s message from Isaiah to the Persian Emperor, Cyrus the Great. It is a remarkable bit of Scripture for two reasons. Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: Isaiah 14:3-4

October 4, 2017October 3, 2017Leave a comment

“When the Lord has given you rest from your pain and turmoil and the hard service with which you were made to serve, you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon: ‘How the oppressor has ceased, the insolent fury ceased!'” (ESV – Read the chapter)

At first blush here, it feels a little odd that God would call Israel to taunt Babylon when they are brought low in judgment from the Lord. Isn’t that just cruel? Why kick someone when they are down? This Old Testament god here must be the vengeful, gleeful-in-wrath god we’ve always heard about from our critics. Read the rest…