Jeremiah 51:38-40 "They shall roar together like lions; they shall growl like lions’ whelps. While they are inflamed I will prepare them a feast and make them drunk, till they swoon away and sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake, says the Lord. I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams and he-goats."

Last night I had a dream in which Jesus was talking to Peter in a garden. It seemed like Jesus was rebuking Peter (I thought perhaps it was during the Agony in the Garden), but He was flanked by two male lions who kept growling, roaring, and making noise, drowning Jesus out. Jesus turned to one and roared right back at him, and then they were both silent. When I woke up, my cat was doing her usual morning meowing to get me out of bed, so I thought she had worked her way into my dream as a lion. But then I got this passage, beginning with "They shall roar together like lions." There really are no coincidences!

The lions in this passage are Nebuchadrezzar and his kingdom of Babylon. They have destroyed Jerusalem, killed many of God's people, and taken the rest into exile. God is promising to take vengeance for Jerusalem (Jeremiah 5:36), saying here that He will lull the roaring lions of Babylon into a drunken stupor, and lead them like lambs to the slaughter to “perpetual sleep.” Notice that their path to eternal sleep, or death, will be through a drunken stupor. Often it is simply getting everything we think we want, having all our earthly, sinful desires satisfied, that leads to our damnation.

There are many roaring lions in our time. Frankly, I do not know who they all are, but I and the rest of the world are feeling the effects of their dominance. Just as Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon conquered and destroyed Jerusalem, our modern day lions are out to conquer the world. Their lust for power and for the satisfaction of their often depraved desires knows no bounds. They will destroy anything and anyone to get and maintain both.

God knows who these lions are. He hears them roaring. He sees the devastation they are bringing to His people and the havoc and destruction they have wrought. He knows they are trying to drown Him out, but no one can silence the Word! In His time, and in His way, God will roar right back at the lions and they will have no choice but to be silenced completely, because that is how the Word works - what He says (or roars:), is.