Jeremiah 47:1-7 - Homiletics

The judgment of the Philistines.

I. A JUDGMENT ON THE ANCIENT ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE OF GOD . They have long ceased to be a power; now they shall cease to have any national existence. They are but a remnant; even this is to be cut off. Gradually the spiritual foes of the Christian are reduced in power and number. Old sins and old temptations are slowly subdued. Some linger on till the end of life. But all shall be overthrown, even the last enemy, death.

II. AN OVERWHELMING JUDGMENT . It comes up like a flood; i.e. it is swift, and it spreads far and wide. Such is a characteristic of Divine judgments.

1 . They may be long delayed, but when they appear they rush down as a flood.

2 . They penetrate to secret hiding places and flow to the most remote quarters, reaching those who would fain separate themselves from their companions in sin when they are forced to be also companions in suffering.

III. A DISTRESSING JUDGMENT . The Philistines suffer grief—they cry and howl; these people are also smitten with the paralysis of fear—"the fathers shall not look back to their children for feebleness of hands" ( Jeremiah 47:3 ). Some troubles can be endured and lived down by fortitude, by patient submission, or by the comforting resources of the inner life. But this is not possible with the judgments of Heaven. They are too terrific to be calmly endured. The inner sources of consolation are withheld. The soul is punished as well as the body. There is the bitterest drop in the cup of anguish. The soul will be tortured with shame, with remorse, with horror. That is hell.

IV. A DESTRUCTIVE JUDGMENT . "Baldness is come upon Gaza; Ashkelon is cut off." Great cities are overthrown, the ruins of them testifying to this day to the violence they have undergone. The end of the broad way is destruction. "The wages of sin is death." Whatever be the exact character of the destruction and death, the analogy of national judgment and the known deadening effects of sin upon the spiritual, the intellectual, and even the physical powers lead us to expect that the fearful fate of sin continued, unchecked, and unrepented of through all stages of chastisement will be some destroying process.

V. AN ENDURING JUDGMENT . "Alas! thou sword of the Lord, how long will it be ere thou be quiet?" ( Jeremiah 47:6 ). Philistia has never been restored. Some judgments appear to be irretrievable. All punishment must be sufficiently enduring to effect its end. The punishment of the next world is always referred to as terribly enduring, as partaking of the awful duration of aeons. How long such vague, vast ages will last none can say. May it not be the fate of any of us to make the experiment!