Brother Mike Ministries

The many days of Judgment Day began on May 21, 2011!  
***
ETERNAL LIFE: No Longer Possible!! ***

Whoso keeps the commandment shall feel no evil: and a wise man's heart discerns [will know] both time and judgment - Ec. 8:5

© Copyright 2010-2018

Jeremiah 51:5-8
Israel and Judah have not been forsaken
By Brother Mike (2-6-18; 40 minutes)
   


5 For Israel [hath] not [been] forsaken, nor Judah of his God, of the LORD of hosts; though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel .
6 Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity; for this [is] the time of the LORD'S vengeance; he will render unto her a recompense .
7 Babylon [hath been] a golden cup in the LORD'S hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad .
8 Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed .


INTRODUCTION    

In verses 5-8 of Jeremiah 51, we are told that Israel and Judah have not been forsaken by Yahweh of hosts. Although the land of Israel and Judah was full of sin against the Holy One of Israel, and so Yahweh sent Babylon to destroy His own people and take them into exile, He is now bringing His vengeance against Babylon for having come against His own people, and He is commanding His people to flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul; to not be cut off in Babylon's iniquity; for this is the time of Yahweh's vengeance, and He will render unto Babylon a recompense for what they did in destroying His own people, and, yes, even the whole earth. Indeed, Babylon has been a golden cup in Yahweh's hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore, the nations are mad, but, now, Babylon is suddenly fallen, and she is broken. Babylon will not ever again be used in Yahweh's hand to bring judgment against His own people, but she will soon be annihilated forevermore.    

Now, we know what this all meant historically in the ancient times of Yahweh's people, but what does all this mean for us today? The answer to this question will be found in the following study. May Yahweh grant His blessing upon us as we focus upon His Word. Amen!   


Verse 51:5
:   

5 For Israel hath not been forsaken, nor Judah of his God, of the LORD of hosts; though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel .  

In this verse, we first read, For Israel has not been forsaken, nor Judah of his God. In the Bible, both the terms Israel and Judah can be used in three ways. First, literally and historically, the terms Israel and Judah can be used to refer to the ancient peoples of Israel. In this case, Israel refers to the 10 northern Israelite tribes of Canaan, and the term Judah refers to the 2 southern Israelite tribes of Canaan. Second, and spiritually, Israel and Judah can refer to the elect as Israel and Judah represent all of Israel, and Israel, referring to all of Israel, can refer to the elect as we find in Galatians 6. There we read, 

14 But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world .
15
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision avails anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature .
16 And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God .   

Here, the Israel of God refers to all of those who have become a new creature in Christ Jesus, which is all the elect. But, third, the terms Israel and Judah can refer to all the Christian churches throughout the world since they were the external representation of the elect until they were all given over to the Antichrist or counterfeit Christ for judgment during the Great Tribulation from May 21, 1988 to May 21, 2011 (see Why leave all churches? and listen to 2Thes. 2:1-11 - The man of sin ). 

So, in summary, the terms Israel and Judah can refer to either the ancient historical people of Israel, the elect, or the Christian churches themselves, and as to which of these any given usage of the terms Israel and Judah refers to depends upon the context.  

Now, returning to the first part of our verse, we once again read, For Israel has not been forsaken, nor Judah of his God, and we must now ask the question, in this context, what do the terms Israel and Judah refer to? On the one hand, they refer to the historical ancient people of Israel and Judah who had been conquered by the Assyrians in 709 BC and then the Babylonians in 587 BC, respectively, due to their sins, but who are being told through Isaiah the prophet that they have not been forsaken by their God because Yahweh is bringing wrath upon the Babylonians through the Medes and Persians for their sins in having conquered them.  

But, on the other hand, and in the spiritual dimension, the terms Israel and Judah in our verse can also refer to the elect who had been conquered by the kingdom of Satan (the Babylonians) due to their sins during the Great Tribulation from May 21, 1988 to May 21, 2011, but we are now being told through Isaiah the prophet that Yahweh has not forsaken us as He has brought wrath upon the Babylonians (this world including all churches) ever since May 21, 2011 by having removed any possibility for any of their eternal salvations. It is the vengeance of Yahweh; the vengeance of our God. Yes, the world (Babylon) was used by our God to bring spiritual destruction to all the churches in which the elect once resided, but now our God is bringing spiritual destruction upon the world (Babylon) for having spiritually destroyed all the churches. Therefore, Yahweh has not forsaken His people, but He is avenging His people by bringing spiritual destruction upon the peoples of this world including all those who infiltrated the churches for having brought spiritual destruction to all the churches in which Yahweh's people once dwelt. Therefore, Israel [the elect] has not been forsaken, nor Judah [the elect] of His God.   

Next, our verse calls the God of Israel and Judah the LORD of hosts. Since the word translated as LORD is really the word Yahweh, and the word translated as hosts can be translated as armies, our verse now reads, of Yahweh of armies. This is meant to remind Israel and Judah (the elect) that their God is a God of armies, and, in context, He is the God who has brought judgment upon their enemies (Babylon) with His army to show that He has not forsaken them. So, in that, Yahweh is a God of armies should encourage us, the elect, as He has what it takes to avenge us of all wrong doings. And, as we read in Romans 12,   

Ro 12:19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord .  

And, repay, He is doing, as He has removed any possibility of eternal salvation from our enemies, the peoples of Babylon, the peoples of this world including the peoples of all the churches. What could He do to our enemies that is any more severe than this? For, now, they can never be granted forgiveness unto eternal salvation, and they will all soon face annihilation on the relatively soon to come last day of Judgment Day that we are now in. So, all the wrongdoings that we have suffered from spiritual enemies have now been avenged and are being avenged. Justice, indeed, has come!  

Now, continuing with our verse, we read, though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel. Here, we are being told that even though the land of Israel and Judah (the land of us, the elect, namely all the churches) was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel, He has not forsaken us. Sure, He chastened us as a Father chastens his rebellious child because of all the sins that we, the elect, participated in while yet a part of a rebellious Christian church, but He has not forsaken us, for even though He had once scattered us by removing us all from our home in the churches, He has now brought us back to our own spiritual land in Christ apart from all the churches where we are being fed on pure milk and the meat of the Word, and where we will soon transition into the new heaven and earth on the Last Day of Judgment Day that we are now in.   

Let's remind ourselves of some of the sins of the Christian churches that we may never fall into the same errors. There is the sin of believing that Christ died for everyone in the world, and now it is up to everyone to choose Christ for their own salvation. This was a terrible sin because it put salvation into the hands of people instead of completely in the hands of God, and many people thought they were saved because they simply chose Christ in their minds, but never did experience the spiritual rebirth wrought completely by the hand of God alone. Then, there is the sin of making church confessions equal to or even above the Word of God, and the false practice of baptizing infants without evidence of their salvation. Then, there is the false teaching and belief that Yahweh is still giving direct revelation today through dreams, visions, voices, tongues, prophesying's, manifestations of one kind or another, and the like, and all the false gospels which add to the Word of God with other revelations or writings which they claim came from Yahweh. Then, there is all the churches that have church governments other than that of qualified elders, or they selected elders who were not qualified according to Holy Scripture. Then, there are churches that have women pastors and teachers for the congregation, which is against the Word of God. And, there are churches which falsely believe that one must be baptized, or speak in tongues, to be saved. Then, there are churches that falsely maintain Saturday as being the day of worship, and other churches that falsely focus upon positive thinking. Then, there are churches that wrongly force people to come up front to be saved during the altar call, and there are other churches that wrongly permit homosexual memberships. Then, there are all the churches that wrongly teach divorce and remarriage for reasons other than the death of a spouse, which has been instrumental in helping to destroy the family. And, none of the churches recognize that the Church Age has ended, nor that eternal salvation has come to an end as of May 21, 2011. These, and many other sins can be found in the so-called Christian churches of our day. No wonder Yahweh tells us that the land of Israel and Judah (the churches wherein the elect once dwelt) was full of sin against the Holy One of Israel. Yet, even though the churches in which the elect once dwelt were full of sin, we are told that Yahweh has not forsaken His people, and this can be seen in that Yahweh has brought His people out of all the churches to dwell in their own spiritual land in Christ, and He has turned against all those who infiltrated all the churches to spiritually destroy them. Those who have remained in the churches are all now certain to remain unsaved, and certain to perish on the soon to come Last Day of Judgment Day that we are now in, for Yahweh has not forsaken His people.   


Verse 51:6

6 Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity; for this is the time of the LORD'S vengeance; he will render unto her a recompense .   

Here, we first read, Flee out of the midst of Babylon. This is a command for us, the elect, to flee out of the midst of Babylon; that is, flee out of this world of sin, and flee out of all the churches. The way we flee out of this world of sin is to examine ourselves for any behaviors in our lives which do not match up to how Christ would behave in the same situation and change them through the Spirit to conform to Christ. For this we pray and ask that the Holy Spirit would reveal through Yahweh's Word where we need to change, and then give us the power and desire to do so that we may be holy as He is holy. This is the work of sanctification that we continue to go through in this life. Lord, grant us the ability for changes of lifestyle where needed to be pleasing to you. Lay on our minds those things which need to be improved and grant us everything we need to become like you. Amen.  

But, not only are we to flee out of this world (Babylon), but we are to flee out from all the churches (Babylon) as well. Many of us already departed out from our church in about the year 2001, but if you are still attending a church at this time after Judgment Day began on May 21, 2011, you must now depart out in obedience to the Lord. Indeed, you are being commanded to depart out. We read of this command in Revelation 18 as well. There we read,  

18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her [Babylon], my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues .   

There are those who may be wondering how it is that all the churches have become Babylon. Well, they have become Babylon because Satan and his kingdom were used by Yahweh to bring judgment against all the churches during the spiritual Great Tribulation from May 21, 1988 to May 21, 2011, and as soon as Satan began to rule over all the churches in judgment during this Great Tribulation, the churches became known as Babylon. And, so, when we are now commanded to come out of Babylon, we are being commanded to come out from all the churches.   

Now, notice what our verse says next: It states, and deliver every man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity. Obviously, there is a good reason to depart out of Babylon: to deliver every man his soul, and to not be cut off in her iniquity. The idea is that to remain in all the churches means that your soul will not be delivered, but it will be cut off in the churches' iniquity. That is, if one is seen to remain in their church even after being revealed the scriptures which command them to come out of their church, it is good evidence that they are not saved, and that they are destined to be cut off or perish in their sins on the soon to come Last Day of Judgment Day. So, is it important that one come out from his or her church? Absolutely! For in which way people react to the Lord's command to depart out of the church reveals where they stand spiritually: whether they are saved and being saved by Yahweh, or whether they are all together being cut off from eternal salvation in their sins and the sins of their church.  

Now, finally, we are given the reason as to why Yahweh's people must depart out of all the churches: we read, for this is the time of the LORD'S vengeance; he will render unto her a recompence. In other words, Babylon (the unsaved people of the world and churches) spiritually destroyed all the churches during the Great Tribulation, but now, ever since May 21, 2011, it is time for Yahweh to spiritually destroy Babylon (the unsaved people of the world including all those in the churches) for what they had spiritually done to all the churches before Judgment Day began on May 21, 2011 when the elect were still a part of all the churches. And, what Yahweh is now doing to Babylon to repay them for what they did to all the churches is remove eternal salvation from their midst. Just as Babylon, in a sense, removed eternal salvation from all the churches by replacing the true gospel with false gospels, so Yahweh has now removed eternal salvation from them. None of them can any longer be saved, and they are all certain to perish on the relatively soon to come Last Day. 


Verse 51:7
:  

7 Babylon [hath been] a golden cup in the LORD'S hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad .   

In this verse, we first read, Babylon [has been] a golden cup in the LORD's hand. The word LORD, here, is the word Yahweh, and in that this golden cup is in Yahweh's hand means that it has been subject to the will of Yahweh as the hand, or hands, in the Bible is commonly known to represent the will. And, so, in that Babylon has been a golden cup in Yahweh's hand means that Babylon has been under the will of Yahweh; He has been sovereign over Babylon as, of course, He is sovereign over all things.

Now, we are told that this cup (Babylon) in Yahweh's hand (under His control) is a golden cup. The idea of being golden is that this cup (Babylon, which is the kingdom of Satan) has outwardly been appearing brilliant, splendid, and holy; that is, she appears to be good and right. But, inwardly, she is like the Pharisees of whom Christ declared,   

Lu 11:39 . . . Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness .    

It is by her wine of wickedness that Babylon, we read, made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine. And, her wine has been all the false beliefs, religions, philosophies, and teachings that all the nations now believe. They have drunken of her wine, and the result is that falsehood is everywhere. There are the false religions of Islam and Judaism, and now all the so-called Christian churches in the world are false as well, for they have all been spiritually destroyed by the wine of Babylon's wickedness during the Great Tribulation from May 21, 1988 to May 21, 2011. And, then, there are the false religions of Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Shintoism, Atheism, and you name it. Everywhere there are false belief systems and false gods. And, the reason for all of this? The nations haven drunken of her [Babylon's] wine.  

Now, finally, the result of all the nations having drunk of Babylon's wine is, we read, Therefore, the nations are mad. That is, the peoples of the nations are crazy. They believe so many things that are false that they seem to be mad or crazy. Think about it! Before May 21, 2011, there was one way through Jesus Christ in which a person could be saved for all eternity in happiness, but they all in themselves chose another way. They all wanted to go to heaven, but they all chose a way that leads to death. They are all mad. You would think that a rational person who wants to go to heaven and live eternally in bliss would choose the only way that leads to heaven, but they have all chosen another way that leads to death. This doesn't make any sense except to realize that they are all crazy or mad. They would rather die than go to heaven. They would rather do things their way than God's way. They would rather suffer death than gain eternal life. Thus, is the madness of the nations who have drunken of her [Babylon's] wine.  

We get a reflection of the madness of the nations through their various false beliefs such as those of ISIS who believe the way to heaven is to murder the infidels. Or, think about the craziness of many Hindus who believe they can wash away their sins in the filthy Ganges River. Or, the madness of the Mormon cult that believes that they can become a god to rule over their own planet and eternally procreate with their wives to bare a multitude of children to inhabit that planet. Then, there is the craziness of the cult of Catholicism which believes that a wafer of bread in their mass literally turns into Christ's physical body so that if you happen to drop the wafer on the floor, you have dropped the body of Christ on the floor. Indeed, I know of a person who once dropped the wafer of bread on the floor during a mass, and she was then heavily chastised by a Nun for doing so. Or, consider the madness of the cult of Judaism which although believes the Old Testament to have come from the mouth of Yahweh, they can't see that the Messiah foretold in their Holy Scriptures is Jesus Christ. Or, consider the madness of all those millions of people each year who murder their child in the name of Prochoice. Yes, the madness of all the nations is seen in all the false beliefs in them, and all these false beliefs have come about because the nations have drunken of her [Babylon's] wine.


Verse 51:8
:   

8 Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed .     

Here, we first read, Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed. More literally, it reads, Babylon is suddenly fallen, and she is broken. This reminds us of what we read in Revelation 18 where we read in verse 2,  

2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird (see Revelation 18:2 study ).  

And, what we are reminded of in Jeremiah 50:2: 

2 Declare ye among the nations, and publish, and set up a standard; publish, and conceal not: say, Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces (see Jeremiah 50:2 study ).    

In that Babylon is fallen or taken and is broken refers to May 21, 2011 when eternal salvation was removed from her midst. It guarantees that no one who is a part of Babylon (this world including all the churches) can now be eternally saved, which insures that they will all now perish forever on the relatively soon to come Last Day of Judgment Day that we are now in. Indeed, Babylon is fallen, and she is broken. But, because the elect have spiritually fled from this world to the spiritual land which is in Christ Jesus, they are not considered a part of this world, and are not subject to her spiritual plagues. So, everyone in the world who was not eternally saved by May 21, 2011 is a part of Babylon. None of them can now be eternally saved but are guaranteed to soon perish forever. This is why it is that Babylon [this world including all the churches] is fallen, and [why] she is broken. The elect, on the other hand, have fled to their own spiritual land in Jesus Christ, and so they are not a part of Babylon. They will never perish but have eternal life.  

Now, continuing with our verse, we read, howl for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed. Here, we are first exhorted to howl for her. In other words, cry out for her because she is now as of May 21, 2011 fallen, and she is broken. For Babylon (all the churches) had once been the elects spiritual home for the 1955 years of the Church Age from 33 AD to May 21, 1988, but now beginning with Judgment Day she has been spiritually destroyed. So, howl or cry out in mourning for her.   

But, not only howl or cry out for her, but take balm for her pain. The idea is to use this balm as a medicine to heal all the Christian churches (Babylon) from all their sins if so be she may be healed. But, she cannot be healed because the gospel, which once could spiritually heal or save, can no longer heal or save as of May 21, 2011. So, we read in Jeremiah 8,  

Jer 8:22 Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered ?   

The answer to the question, Is there no balm in Gilead, is that, yes, there is balm; that is, the gospel or Word of God (the balm) which heals or saves is present to all the churches (Gilead or Babylon), and there are physicians present; that is, there are people to bring the Word of God (the balm) to all the churches, but the Word of God (the balm) can no longer heal or save as of May 21, 2011. Therefore, it is understandable that we read in Jeremiah 46, 

Jer 46:11 Go up into Gilead, and take balm, O virgin, the daughter of Egypt: in vain shalt thou use many medicines; for thou shalt not be cured .  

Yes, the gospel or Word of God (the balm) is available for Gilead (all the churches), which in this verse is also called O Virgin, the daughter of Egypt, but it cannot heal or save, and, therefore, we read, in vain shall thou use many medicines; for thou shall not be cured. So, although we take balm (the gospel) for her (for Babylon, which symbolizes all the churches), if so she may be healed; nevertheless, she will not be healed, which leads us to verse 9 of Jeremiah 51 that we will cover in our next study. But, for now, let's make a conclusion to this study.  


CONCLUSION   

Although Israel and Judah (all the Christian Churches) were filled with sin Against the Holy One of Israel, and, so, Yahweh employed Babylon (Satan and his kingdom) to spiritually destroy them, Israel and Judah (the elect who were once in all the churches) have not been forsaken of Yahweh of armies as He is now bringing vengeance and a recompense against Babylon ever since May 21, 2011 for having spiritually destroyed all the churches of which the elect were once a part. His recompense against Babylon (the world and all the churches) is that He has removed any possibility of eternal salvation from their midst ever since Judgment Day began on May 21, 2011. This has resulted in Yahweh now exhorting everyone who will listen to flee out of the midst of Babylon, which means that we are to separate ourselves from the sins of this world, and to flee out of all the churches so that every man deliver his soul, and be not cut off in Babylon's iniquity. In other words, if you want to be eternally saved, you must separate yourself from this world of sin, and you must depart out from all the churches. This does not mean that you can now be eternally saved by obedience instead of grace, but it means that if you obey the Lord to come out from this world and your church, it is evidence that you had been already saved by May 21, 20211.  

Now, we are told that Babylon has been a golden cup in Yahweh's hand. In that Babylon has been a golden cup means that she has given the appearance that she is good, right, and holy. And, in that Babylon has been in Yahweh's hand means that she has been used according to Yahweh's will. And, the way that Babylon was used is to bring judgment against the entire world including all the churches due to their sins by giving the world and churches over to Babylon's false beliefs, philosophies, religions, and teachings. These are the wine that the nations drank, which has made them mad or crazy. That is, because of all the false beliefs that the world holds to, she appears mad or crazy in the light of the truth. But, now, as of May 21, 2011, Babylon is suddenly fallen and broken with no possibility of any of Babylon's peoples being eternally saved. So, we are told to howl for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed, which means that we would have brought the gospel or Word of God to Babylon if so be she may be healed or saved. But, of course, because salvation has ended as of May 21, 2011, she cannot be healed or saved, which is why we read the following in the next verse in Jeremiah 51 to be covered in our next study. It reads,  

9 We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go every one into his own country: for her judgment reacheth unto heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies .   


Now, until next time, may Yahweh through our Lord Jesus Christ, bless thee, and keep thee: Yahweh make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: Yahweh lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace .

51:1-4  
51:5-8
51:9-11
51:12-14  
51:15-19  
51:20-23 
51:24-27  
51:28-32  
51:33-36  
51:37-40  
51:41-45  
51:46-50 
51:51-55 
51:56-58
51:59-64           

aaaaaaaaaaaaiii