Jeremiah 4:7
The lion is come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way; he is gone forth from his place to make thy land desolate; and thy cities shall be laid waste, without an inhabitant. The lion is come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way; he is gone forth from his place to make thy land desolate; and thy cities shall be laid waste, without an inhabitant.
The lion come up from his thicket is the Babylonian army from the north marching upon Jerusalem and Judah to make the land desolate and its cities waste without an inhabitant. As king of beasts tearing its prey, the lion denotes Babylon's glory as the first universal kingdom and its ferocity, while joined with eagle's wings it denotes the strength of Nebuchadnezzar and the rapidity of his conquests. The same lion identifies Babylon in Daniel's vision, where it stands as the first of the world empires and the head of gold before baser kingdoms follow. The destruction of ancient Jerusalem is a faint shadow of the greater destruction of the last days, when widespread Sodom-like corruption brings Jehovah's personal visitation upon all cities just before Christ's second coming. The land laid waste without an inhabitant describes the earth after that coming, when the wicked are slain and no human beings remain during the thousand years until God creates new heavens and a new earth.
Ancient Invasion Foretold
The lion come up from his thicket is Babylon, or Chaldea, the Babylonian or Chaldean army seen marching upon Jerusalem to make the land desolate and the cities waste without inhabitant. The destroyer of the Gentiles, or destroyer of the nations, is Babylon on its way and gone forth from its place, advancing to make Judah desolate and leave its cities empty. It is the Babylonian power from the north that was about to sweep over Judea, the approaching destroyer pictured as a lion coming from its thicket against Jerusalem. It is Babylon as the first of the world empires, portrayed as a destroyer advancing to devastate the land. The related image of swift horses and chariots in verse 13 emphasizes the speed of its advance.
The coming enemy is pictured as a lion emerging from its thicket to tear its prey apart, picturing ferocity. As king of beasts the lion denotes Babylon's glory as the first universal kingdom corresponding to the head of gold, a figure also found on Babylonian monuments. Joined with eagle's wings, the lion denotes the rapidity of its conquests and the soaring pride of its monarchs. With eagle's wings it fittingly represents the strength of Nebuchadnezzar and the rapidity of his conquests, and the lion and eagle symbols together show Babylon's swiftness in conquest. That empire ended in 538 B.C.
The invasion came because of Judah's inward wickedness and vain thoughts, which provoked God to send the Chaldeans as a destroyer to devastate the land. Union of God's church with the world is fornication and adultery against God. The verse belongs to the chapter's warning of desolation against Israel and Jerusalem. It is an awful denunciation against sin showing sorrow of heart over the people's transgression, with a touching appeal to wash the heart from wickedness and be saved and to return to God. Jeremiah's first warning was that the kingdoms of the north would come to possess Jerusalem and all the cities of Judah unless the people ceased from their evil ways.
The warning was repeated over and over, through alternate warnings and promises in which God pleaded for repentance. Yet even then there was hope, for the same words point out a way of escape if Jerusalem will wash the heart from wickedness. If they would cease from sin and observe His holy Sabbaths none of the threatened evils would fall, kings and princes would continue on the throne of David, and Jerusalem would stand under His providence as long as the world endures. But the mass of the people gave utter lack of response to the message. The destruction of ancient Jerusalem is a faint shadow of the greater destruction of the last days.
Lion Identifies Babylon
The lion come up from its thicket is Babylon in the vision of Daniel 7, where the eagle-winged lion stands for that power as a destroyer advancing to lay the land desolate and its cities empty. That identification marks Babylon as a destructive power nearing the end of its rule.
The lion denotes Babylon as the beginning of the world empires and the first of the four kingdoms shown in Daniel 7 before the little horn rises. As king of beasts it denotes the glory of the first universal kingdom, corresponding to the head of gold. Joined with eagle's wings it denotes the rapidity of its conquests and the soaring pride of its monarchs.
The lion reveals moral character and attitude toward God's people as power and strength with occasional ferocity combined with soaring pride. Those traits were displayed in conquests over other nations, in persecution of God's people, and in the self-exaltation of Nebuchadnezzar. Proud Babylon under this symbol was forced to fall, the gold yielding to a baser metal and the lion to a baser beast.
The lion represents Babylon in its civil aspect as the first head and the beginning of the persecuting church-and-state system. Its mouth is a characteristic of the whole system and is taken up into the composite beast of Revelation 13. Successive powers represented by that beast thus inherit Babylon's character.
Last-Day Desolation Foretold
The warning of desolation against Israel and Jerusalem reaches beyond its own time, for the destruction of ancient Jerusalem is a faint shadow of the greater destruction of the last days. The portrayal of a lion-like destroyer coming to devastate the land and leave its cities empty applies the widespread wickedness and ensuing devastation of Jeremiah's day to the time before Christ's second coming, when Jehovah personally visits the wicked with destruction.
That visitation shows the outcome of the present tide of corruption in the great cities, when the destroyer comes from his place to make the land desolate and the cities waste without an inhabitant. It falls in fierce anger upon all cities when their vice, prostitution, murder, and refusal of correction become Sodom-like and incurable. Zion and Jerusalem stand not only for ancient Jerusalem and the Jewish nation before Christ but for the church in all ages, and this desolation belongs to the time just before the second coming of Christ when He comes in person to destroy evil.
The same coming forth to desolate predicts the great coming war of Armageddon when all the nations of the earth shall be prepared for battle, proving that building military power as a guarantee of peace ends in the destruction of earthly kingdoms. It looks forward to the period just before the day of the Lord and foretells the unprecedented present preparations for war, when governments tax their peoples to the earth to support war burdens and build great costly battleships only to be outdone by other nations, even while peace congresses and cries of peace continue.
The land laid waste without an inhabitant describes the earth after Christ's coming, when the wicked are slain and no human beings remain on earth during the thousand years. This awful confusion and trouble comes when people are no longer worthy of God's favor, and marks the earth as rejected until God creates new heavens and a new earth.