We would have healed Babylon, but she cannot be healed; let us leave her and each go to our own land, for her judgment reaches to the skies, it rises as high as the heavens.’ – Jeremiah 51:9

Today’s Scripture Reading (March 16, 2014): Jeremiah 51

Following the end of the First World War, the nations looked for a way to stop such an occurrence from ever happening again. Their solution was to form an international body that would strive after world peace, a group of nations committed to doing whatever was necessary to make sure that World War never took a hold of the earth ever again. President Woodrow Wilson worked hard at the idea of this group of countries, and on January 16, 1920, the League of Nations was born – a league of nations committed to the idea of peace.

Ironically, in spite of the work of Woodrow Wilson, the League of Nations held its first meeting, and every other meeting throughout its 27 year existence, without the United States. In the end, the rising Superpower objected to covenant 10 of the charter of the League specifying that the nations of the League would come to the defence of any other member that was attacked by another foreign nation. The idea was that by providing a united front, the nations of the League would make the probability of attack – and a Second World War – less likely. But without the United States, and a parade of nations that entered and left the League throughout its existence, the league ended up failing in its biggest objective - preventing World War II. And the unanswerable question that historians have been left with is this - would the addition of the United States to the League have been enough to keep the nations inside of the League and stop World War II. As Benito Mussolini once remarked, "the League is very well when sparrows shout, but no good at all when eagles fall out." For the world to be healed, it needed to be able to act together as one in the support of peace.

Jeremiah remarks that Babylon was beyond the possibility of being healed. The war that was coming was unavoidable. While Judah’s faith in her God would eventually heal Judah, Nebuchadnezzar would experiment with the faith of Judah, but Babylon would never fully accept the God of the Jews. And in the end, he would be the only hope of Judah or Babylon. Without God, the crisis that loomed in the future was unavoidable. Babylon’s fate was absolute. In the end, the nations would rebel and Babylon would fall as swiftly as it had risen. Peace would be as impossible for Babylon as it was for the world in 1939.

Reality is that the future healing and peace always requires our total commitment. And the truth is that unless we allow God into our lives and our plans, healing and peace will never be available. Nebuchadnezzar’s faith could have led Babylon into a very different future. But without that faith, Babylon’s fall was unavoidable - and the possibility of her healing a distant memory.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 30