Prophecies Against Elam
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Jeremiah 49:1-39, Zephaniah 2:8-11, 1 Timothy 6:17-19
BY Melanie Rainer
What’s the opposite of a banner year? Whatever it is, that’s what our family has experienced in the last year. Grief, frustration, brokenness, envy, death, and sickness stretched us out like a rubber band, taking us further than we thought we physically had the capacity to go.
At some point, every response started to seem rote, even the biblical ones. I stopped talking to certain people, because I knew they would offer a platitude that did nothing to assuage the torrent of grief and sadness. I longed for a true reprieve, a glimpse of the promise that I know in my bones is true: that one day there will be no more sadness and no more death (Revelation 21:4).
The brutal prophecies against the nations in the final few chapters of Jeremiah feel like that: unrelenting, devastating, impossible to withstand. Chapter 49 unwinds the devastations that were to come: the land of Ammon would be like a desolate mound; the chief city Bozrah would be destroyed, “an example for cursing” (v.13). Edom would become insignificant among all nations and uninhabitable (vv.15); fires would consume Damascus (v.27); Elam would lose the source of their power and be finished off, their kings destroyed (vv.35, 37–38). But then we read this:
“Yet, in the last days, I will restore the fortunes of Elam.
This is the LORD’s declaration” (v.39).
There are short verses tucked in each chapter that promise restoration—the Egyptians (Jeremiah 46:26), the Moabites (48:47), the Ammonites (49:6), and the Elamites. And earlier in Jeremiah, God made a promise to His people, the people of Judah who had betrayed Him: “‘I will restore your fortunes, and gather you from all the nations and places where I banished you’—this is the LORD’s declaration. ‘I will restore you to the place from which I deported you’” (Jeremiah 29:14).
This is because our just God is also our merciful God. Even in the midst of judgment, executed in His perfect justice and righteousness, He promises to restore His people. He promises to restore their enemies. God is so big and so good.
Jeremiah is a study of God’s character. The reality of His grace and His justice is too much for our brains to comprehend. How, after all the things the Elamites and Ammonites and Egyptians and Moabites did to the people of God, could He promise to restore them? How, after all the ways His people betrayed Him, could God show them mercy? I do not understand it. But I know I need that same mercy.
Charles Spurgeon, a British theologian and pastor, said: “God’s mercy is so great that you may sooner drain the sea of its water, or deprive the sun of its light, or make space too narrow, than diminish the great mercy of God.” It is this great mercy of our good and just God that we see woven throughout this chapter of desolation. Thanks be to Him.
40 thoughts on "Prophecies Against Elam"
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This bible reading today is reminding me that our only true assurance is Jesus. We shouldn’t put our hope in our money or anything else. All of these things are like sinking sand. May we all remember that during this time.
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Kelly, my heart just broke reading your post. I will be praying for your future sister in law.
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When I read, “The reality of His grace and His justice is too much for our brains to comprehend.”, I thought to myself Melanie Rainer nail it on the head. Yes, as she wrote a little bit before “our just God is also our merciful God.” and “God is so big and so good.” but comprehending all of what God does is inconceivable. The grace He gives us time and time and time again is beyond belief. Yet do I give that same grace to my fellow human being time and time and time again — no. The justice He brings about is unfathomable but do I take heed — no. I need to remember what the second part of 1 Timothy 6:17 says “Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment.” This is a time when we all need to trust in God who gives us everything we need.
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Audreye:
I am praying that in this difficult season you feel God’s presence and are strengthened by His love.
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Audrye, I know what you are going through. For me, this pandemic that we are going through has not distracted me from losing my husband. In some ways it magnifies my grief. Tomorrow my husband will be gone 6 months. But I’m telling you to hold on. I’m holding on. God is faithful. He will get all of us through this. I’ve been finding such peace in Isaiah 26:3 “ You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You
because he trusts in You.”
Audrye, remember His promises. You are always in my prayers-
I’m so sorry.
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Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; steadfast love and faithfulness go before You. Psalm 89:14 This is who God is. He is love ❤️
Kelly, I’m praying for your future sister-in-law. May God encamp His angels around her and protect her from all harm and evil. I’m praying that God will convict her abusers and cause them to turn their hearts towards Jesus and be saved. In Jesus name I pray. Amen -
Today, after our reading, The Lord’s Prayer came to mind, so I went to Matthew 6:9 to see what notes I had written there.
Our Father, which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy Name. (greatly revered & honored)
THY Kingdom come. THY will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. (God’s purpose NOT mine).
Give us this day our daily bread (necessities, not luxuries of life).
And forgive us our trespasses (sins) As we forgive them that trespass against us. (God’s pardon).
And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil. (God’s protection).For THINE is the kingdom, The power, and the glory, For ever and ever. Amen.
GOD is in control! -
Ladies, please lift up in prayer my future sister in law, who we just learned is being abused at home. I am sure there are so many others like her and this quarantine is exacerbating it. Praying for everyone out there who does not feel safe as they are stuck at home, to find help.
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