The scriptures hold forth so many different texts in different ways that all men and even indeed nations, they all have an appointment with the living God. And that appointment can be described either as it is elsewhere in the scriptures as a time of love, or as we have in our own text, the time of the Lord's vengeance. It's described either as a day of salvation or a day of the Lord's fierce anger. Our text holds forth before us a description of that latter kind of appointment, that time of the Lord's vengeance, that day of his fierce anger. And friend, this is then a solemn word. I feel recently as your minister, I've preached a number of solemn texts over the past several months. This is perhaps the most solemn. This is perhaps also the most urgent. For here the Lord God, he sets before us in illustrative terms and descriptions that are very much accommodated to our own understanding what it looks like to be in that day of the Lord's fierce anger, what it looks like to be in that time of the Lord's vengeance. And obviously friend, the application for you and I as we listen to this text is to remember that this is one of the two kinds of appointments that everyone in this room must keep with the living God. So friend, we come to this text We come to this recognizing that in its immediate context, the prophet is speaking of Babylon. We find that from the very first verse. This is the burden of Babylon, says Isaiah. And he begins, you remember, excuse me, in those first several verses with a symbolic picture, a series of images drawn from military experience to remind everyone that you and I, we live in God's world. The images that the prophet draws upon are the images of a commander in full possession of his military prerogatives. He summons all of his hosts to himself to do his bidding. He is the one who sets up the banner on the high places. He is the one who summons his sentries to indicate to the troops near and far to come and to be the instruments of his wrath. The prophet opens, friend, with a panoply of imagery that's supposed to remind us of God's sovereignty. We live in God's world and all of his creatures are at his disposal to work his will. God is commander of all. That's the idea of the first five verses. But then, friend, we come to verse six. If I not only is God commander, ruler of all, But the prophet tells us of a particular day that is the Lord's, the day of the Lord. It's called that friend because it's in several ways, it's specially his day. It's appointed by him for very specific purposes. And it is his uniquely in several senses. And Jeremiah is described as a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries. Throughout the scriptures, you and I will find this phrase scattered right throughout the prophets that there is the day of the Lord. Sometimes the day of the Lord refers to that final day when God's vengeance is poured fully displayed against all of his enemies. And other times, as in our text, the day of the Lord describes localized judgments, where God comes upon a particular people in a very particular time. Of course, those latter days, those localized judgments are supposed to remind us that they are just images, if you like, illustrations of what that final day will be for God's enemies. but it's the day of the Lord nonetheless, especially appointed by him. He is its commander in a special sense. In our text, it is the time of the Lord's vengeance upon Babylon that we read of. And the verses that we take up this evening, verses six to the end, you can divide them, I suppose, into two basic two basic sections. The first section, verses six to nine, you have, as it were, the objective or the design of this day. What is it that the Lord God intends to accomplish on this day against Babylon? But then as you move from verses 10 to the end, you find that this day is actually described for us in several ways. The Lord there, he tells us how he will accomplish the objectives and the design of this day of wrath. Friend, what I want you to notice in verse nine, before we begin, is a description of this day. The word of God reads that this is a day cruel, both with wrath and fierce anger. In the vernacular, how you and I, we use the word cruel, we have often the idea of injustice. That's not what the text means, of course, at all here. As you compare the Hebrew word that's used in this text with its usages elsewhere, the meaning really is that this is a day without mercy. This is a day of wrath without mercy. The Babylon, they will not know mercy this day from the hand of God and for that matter, from anyone else. That's the day, friend, that's described for us in this text. You might say to me, this is, I suppose, intriguing on a historical level, but we're not Babylon. We live in the 21st century. And we live here in Northern Ireland. What does this text about a particular local judgment say to us? And friend, I suppose I'm going back to a basic principle of how you and I are to read the scriptures. The answer is, is much in every way. Take this beloved as an example. Or even if you like, take this as a case study of what it is like to be under the day of God's fierce anger. Take this friend as a description in part of what awaits those who have that appointment with the Lord. That time that's described as the time of the Lord's vengeance, the day of his fierce anger. Beloved, it means much in every way. Because what the text teaches us, friend, is that God's vengeance will absolutely overtake his enemies. God's vengeance will absolutely overtake his enemies. It's what Babylon was to hear from this text. And beloved, it's for us to sit under as well. I want us to see that first of all, in terms of the purpose of this day. And there you have it in verse nine. What is the design, the objective of this day of the Lord? Well, we're told here in the ninth verse, that God comes to destroy the sinners, that is the sinners out of the land. What he says here pointedly is that this is the day in which Babylonians will fall under the sword of God's justice. God will wet his sword. He'll take it out upon his enemies, and they will, as it were, be executed by his justice. That's the idea. But then I want you to come with me down to verse 11, because there you have this, that not only are the Babylonians executed, but the cause of the arrogancy of the proud, he will cause, rather, the arrogancy of the proud to cease. Now, friend, you could say, well, that's simply saying the same thing in two ways. But note in verse 11 what the point of emphasis is. The inflection point is pride. God is removing not only the Babylonian, he's also removing the Babylonian sin. All that exalts itself against God in Babylon is also to be removed. on this day. And what you see in this text, friend, is then this day by its very design is a day in which God intends to remove the sinner and his sin from the earth. It is to remove the rebel as well as his rebellion from off the face of the planet. That's the purpose of this day. God's vengeance is to execute his enemies. and to remove his sin, to remove the sin of his enemies, to remove the sinner from the earth. Friend, that's something that's communicated to us in so many ways throughout the scriptures, isn't it? Because there's a general principle that comes to us out of the word of God, that sin and sinners, they don't belong here. I take it as the church prays in Psalm 104, let the sinners be consumed out of the earth and let the wicked be no more. That's the prayer of the people of God. They recognize this is not a place, the earth, this is not for the rebel. This is not to be a stage of rebellion. And then friend, the word of God comes to us and promises that one day they will be removed. And so you have it in Proverbs 2, that the wicked shall be cut off from the earth and transgressors shall be rooted out of it. But note how the scriptures describe that. The sinner is cut down like a tree and he's uprooted like a weed as something that ought not to be there. Friend, that's how the Scriptures describe God's judgment upon his enemies. He's removing things that do not belong. He cuts them down. He weeds them out. This may be a bit of a digression, but I think it's important for me to say that God, he does remove rebels and rebellion from off the face of the earth in two ways. The first way, The first way is the way of grace. I mean, you see this in the scriptures where we're told, I mean, we even thought about it this morning, where God takes those who are rebels and he makes them obedient servants by his grace. He subdues their rebellion through regeneration by making them new. That's the idea that James has in mind in part whenever he says, he which converteth a sinner from his error shall save a soul from death and shall hide a multitude of sins. That last clause there doesn't refer only to justification. The idea is that he actually subdues his rebellion. So God does that. He does remove the rebel and his rebellion in one way by grace. by turning rebels and making them sons. But obviously, friend, in our text, it's the second way. It's the way of divine justice that the prophet principally has in view. Do you remember how the Lord Jesus describes the second way? Speaking of the fig tree, he says, these three years, speaking in a parable, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down. Why cumbereth it the ground? Do you get the idea that's behind that image? Here is a plant, a fig tree. It's taking up space, it's taking up the earth's nutrients. The earth has yielded its minerals and it's nourishing. But it proves unprofitable, there is no fruit. It's not fit for purpose. And so God comes, says, cut it down. Why come birth at the ground? Why allow it to take up space? Why allow it to be under the showers of my mercy and my goodness any longer? Friend, that's how the Lord Jesus speaks about judgment. Sinners are cumberers of the ground, according to the scriptures. And that's exactly what we find. The day of God's vengeance, his fierce anger, is as it were to put things right, to remove that which doesn't belong, to remove that which is a rebellion against him, which is cumbering the ground. Friend, allow me just for a moment and very briefly, to address the unconverted in the room. I don't know who you are. Friend, what this truth, what this truth should say to you is that your situation is perilous. I mean, really friend, the way in which the scriptures describe your condition, I don't think we appreciate just how dangerous, how urgent your case really is. Friend, according to this text, the man who is standing over hell on a floor of paper or hanging over its precipice on a spider's web, he's in a better place imaginable than you. For friend, in our text, God says he comes to remove that which doesn't belong. And as we saw last Lord's Day evening, he uses all of his creatures to accomplish his purposes. There is not a maverick molecule. There is not a single subatomic particle that is not outside of his command and that God will not use to rid the earth of his enemies. That's your condition. Let your heart, let the world say otherwise, but friend, that's the truth. And so take this friend as a real warning to yourself. Do not rest, friend, until you are indeed resting in the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the purpose of this day. But that's not all the prophet says. He tells us as well of its strength or its potency. You see this in verses 10 and 13, where he talks about the stars, the constellations, the sun and the moon, and he says all of these will be disrupted and we're not supposed to understand that this is to be fulfilled literally. The idea is that this is figurative language to describe great changes. Changes in the order, changes in the great ones of the earth. In fact, that's exactly how the Apostle Peter interprets Joel 2, when Joel makes use of similar language. It's to speak of the entire order, the supposedly established order of things being upended. That's the idea. The idea is that God says, on this day, I will take that which is stable, that which seems to be permanent, that which seems so far removed, so far out of reach of change, and I will rend it asunder. That's the idea. And so what God is saying here is this is a day in which he will manifest his power. Almighty power will be on display. And in verse eight, he speaks of the great ones and he says, they shall be amazed at one another. Their faces shall be as flames. The idea is their faces will be red, flushed because of exquisite pain. That's the idea. The great ones, the strong ones of the earth that seem not to be touchable When it comes to pain, their faces will be as flames, says God. But then in verse 12, he goes another step and he says, I will make a man more precious than gold. Now, before he was talking about the great ones, now he says any man, any man, I'll make him a rare thing on the earth. But the point friend behind all of those descriptors is what you have in verse six, isn't it? The Lord God is impressing upon us that when he comes in this way, when a sinner or a nation enters that day of the Lord's fierce anger, they will know. They will know that it is as destruction from the Almighty. That's what he says there in the sixth verse. And so friend, the potency or the strength of this day, if you like, it will be shown as it absolutely overcomes God's enemies. The power of it you find throughout the scriptures, throughout this text as well. He will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. In the book of Job, this is given to us through Eliphaz. Eliphaz talks in that case about a particular man, in our text, of course, about a nation, but Eliphaz, talks about the man who stretches out his hand against God and strengthening himself against the Almighty. So a terrible man, a man who is boastful and proud against God, but then he says this, Eliphaz then tells us that, well, now trouble and anguish shall make him afraid. In other words, he won't always be so haughty. God will turn things around. By his power, he will reduce them. And that's the idea in our text. But then, my friend, I want you to notice what I've already noted at the start, that friend, the strength of this day will also be manifest as this is a day, as we have in our translations, a cruel day, that is a day without mercy. And that is the prophet's prevailing theme in this text. What you learn in this text is he says, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver. Now, what is he saying there? This is so very important, friend. When he's speaking about Medea Persia and bringing them upon the Babylonians, what he's saying here is that they will be as though they were blind and as though they were deaf. As you're trying to barter for your life with silver and gold, it will be like they never heard you. Oh, and by the way, when they are cutting you down, they won't see the difference between a man, a woman, or a child. They will have no mercy. God will manifest his wrath against his enemies in this way. This is what a day of vengeance says the scriptures looks like. Friend, it's so important that you and I, we recognize that the pronoun here is so important. God says, I will. The prophet isn't speaking to us about the wrath of Media Persia against Babylon. That's the point of the text, isn't it? This is not about the wrath of the Medes. This is about the wrath of God. And then he goes on to say this. friend, that he will make them like Sodom and Gomorrah. And I know that it's an illustrative phrase that's supposed to remind us of the desolation that lies in the wake of such judgment, but it certainly carries with it this idea as well, that just as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, he overthrew Babylon. It was his work. Whether by fire from heaven, by flood or by the means. However, destruction comes upon God's enemies. Ultimately, friend, it is God's vengeance that is displayed. I think that's worth repeating, Christian, because that can change the way you look at the world. Whether through floods, fiery hail, earthquake, pestilence, whether on a field of battle or languishing on a sickbed. Friend, that misery that ultimately overtakes the enemy of God, whatever it is, it is simply the instrument of God's wrath. Now we close friend with what we have at the end of our texts. the permanence of this day, or rather the permanence of its effects. In verse 20, we're told that Babylon shall never be inhabited. The wild beasts of the desert shall lie there. And the point, friend, in this text, of course, is to show us that there has been a great reversal. God has accomplished his purposes against Babylon. The glory of kingdoms will be reduced to memory, we're told. That's the idea. And in verse 22, there's that very graphic idea that the dragons shall dwell in the pleasant palaces. That is the delicate places, the ornate palaces that the Babylonians relished and they will just be a place for the beasts of the desert. There's a total reversal. What we're told in this text is that the day of God's vengeance will allow for no renovation. There will be no rebuilding. There will be no restoration. That's the note that the prophet leaves us with. Friend, this is the settled condition of God's enemies. This is what it means to be under the wrath of God. In fact, the scriptures give it to us in other words as well. And the prophet Jeremiah comes to us thus, God shall make them an astonishment and an hissing and perpetual desolations. It's a shocking turn of phrase, isn't it? Perpetual desolations. That is the end of the wicked, says the scriptures. And it matches, of course, their spiritual condition. Their settled misery matches the fact that they are settled as well in their rebellion against God. We read this from Revelation 22. He that is unjust, let him be unjust still. He which is filthy, let him be filthy still. The reason why they are under perpetual desolations is because their condition, their spiritual condition has never changed. It too is perpetual and permanent. To go back, friend, to the gospel of Luke, and the rich man and Lazarus, you have this, don't you? You and I were left as we read that text with the real impression that the rich man, he asked for a drop of water. And to this day, he still has never received any. His state is permanent. There's no abatement. And friend, when this finally overtakes the sinner, when he doesn't just know this in temporal things, but when he actually comes under the fullness of this day, friend, he will spend thousands upon thousands of years looking up, crying for an abatement and finding none, for his place is permanent. And God comes to root out his enemies. And there is no rebuilding. There's no restoration. We're told in this text that God's vengeance will absolutely overtake his enemies. As his purpose is to remove from the earth his rebels and their rebellion, the potency of his wrath will overall the mightiest And in the end, it will make permanent their misery. Beloved, that's what such a day looks like. Whether for men or for nations. Beloved, the day of the Lord's fierce anger is such a day. And I suppose as we leave this text and close, do we have a sense of the urgency of this text? Do you remember how we began in verse 6? There is a command to those who hear the prophet, howl, he says ye, howl ye. The idea is that this is something that should make you cry. Really, in pain even is the idea there. And then he says this, why? Because it is at hand, the day is coming. And that's exactly how our text ends, isn't it? In verse 22, it's the time is near to come and her days shall not be prolonged. Friend, this is a picture of the wrath to come. And do you know why it's called the wrath to come? That scripture phrase, friend, it carries with it the idea that that wrath is ever closing the distance upon his victim. It is, as it were, running the race to get to its recipient. Friend, if you're outside of the Lord Jesus Christ, you are under the wrath to come. It is after you. Friend, if you took this text really in its fullness, you would wonder why the earth didn't open up and swallow you whole now. Because friend, that's the kind of thing that's in view here. This wrath is ever, ever nearing to those who are God's enemies. The time is near to come. And friend, this is true of all of God's enemies. None of their days shall be prolonged. But even friend for Christians, this text, this carries with it certainly a question for ourselves, doesn't it? Do we have the sense of urgency for others that we know we're outside of Christ? Beloved, if you had a child, a spouse, a friend, a coworker, and they were drinking down poison or they were running into a fire, what wouldn't you do? What wouldn't you do? And yet this text reminds us that the most dangerous thing that a man or that a woman could do is to continue in rebellion against God. And so the question for us is, are we urgent for others? For our children, parents, How earnestly are you praying for your children? I don't mean for their jobs. I don't mean for the next exams. I mean for their souls. Husbands and wives, how earnestly are you praying for each other? How much are you engaged? And even to the point of being mocked by the world. but really earnestly calling for others to see their need for the Lord Jesus Christ. This text urges us friend to be different, to think differently than we do. But I want you to know in this text, beloved, there is something for the believer that should thrill us It's again, a general principle you and I should take with us every time we come across a text like this. Every description of God's wrath, like our text, I love it. It is a glimpse of the Christian's love debt to Christ. What do I mean? We're told here that God's vengeance, it will make the heart melt. hangs and sorrows shall take hold of its victim. The face of the mightiest shall be his flames and the sun shall be darkened. All of that came upon the Lord Jesus Christ for his people. In its fullness and to its dregs, he drank down this cup of wrath. And yet he says, I gave my back to the smiters and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. He says, lo, I come in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will. He willingly came under a day of the Lord's fierce anger for you, Christian. This sobering description of God's wrath, friend, was meted out on him in its fullness for you who are his. Beloved, this should make our hearts sing. And so there are two points of exhortation. The first is to the unconverted here, you need to flee now. So says the prophet, the time is near. You don't belong as a rebel of God. You are a cumberer of the ground. And if you remain so, you will find that God indeed does uproot like a weed all of his enemies. That wrath is drawing near and your days will not be prolonged. Turn now. Friend, now, he calls you to himself freely, now. Don't be like the generation in Jeremiah's day who says the harvest is past, the summer has ended, and we are not saved. The day of calling has come and it's gone, and we are left in our sins and left in our misery. Don't be such a people. Call you upon the Lord while he is near, says the prophet. Friend, that presupposes that the Lord God is not always near. This is the time to flee. It was Samuel Rutherford who put it this way. A man is saved in the nick of conversion or else eternally lost. The idea that he has in view there is do not. Friend, if you find the external workings of God's spirit upon you, Do not slank them. No, now is the time to come. But the exhortation for all beloved who are in the Lord Jesus Christ is quite direct. You and I, we need to be engaged in prayer for those who are under and who are expecting this day. Beloved, this day will overtake all of God's enemies, whether they are your children, your spouses, whether they are your coworkers or your students. Does that reality grip you? And friends, sometimes nations have this day appointed for them as well. So our calling as Christians, friends, is to remember that. Nations and men, they have two appointments with the Almighty. One is a time of love, a day of salvation. The other appointment is the day of the Lord's vengeance the day of his fierce anger. Friend, hold that truth before you. Cause it to draw you to the Lord Jesus Christ and to be faithful in his service. Amen.