DRUNK ON JUDGMENT

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“Say to them: ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Every wineskin should be filled with wine.’ And if they say to you, ‘Don’t we know that every wineskin should be filled with wine?’ then tell them, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am going to fill with drunkenness all who live in this land, including the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets and all those living in Jerusalem. I will smash them one against the other, parents and children alike, declares the Lord. I will allow no pity or mercy or compassion to keep me from destroying them.’”

Jeremiah 13:12-14

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

One thing I can honestly say I haven’t done in life is drink alcohol but I have seen more of my share of people do it and to the excess.

Maybe you’re one of them and, if so, then you will be able to relate to what I am about to say for alcohol has a way of changing a person’s ability to make proper decisions and control their inhibitions. The more alcohol you consume, the truer this becomes.

It’s what causes people who would normally drive well to veer and swerve, even go the wrong way on highways, often exacting harm to themselves, others, or personal or public property.

It’s what causes people who may normally be loving to become abusive toward others, even those they are supposed to love the most.

It’s what leads to people entering into sexual relations with someone else even though they are in a committed relationship with another.

It’s what leads a person who would normally be passive to want to fight other, even people who are much bigger and stronger than they are. Thus why alcohol has been referred to at times as “liquid courage” but I have another name for it: the devil’s drink, because I have seen it lead very good people to do very bad things.

No matter the variation in results, alcohol, when consumed in quantity, causes a person to lose control over themselves.

This point is at the heart of what the Lord is trying to convey in our continuing study of Jeremiah 23. Look again at His words here:

“Say to them: ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Every wineskin should be filled with wine.’ And if they say to you, ‘Don’t we know that every wineskin should be filled with wine?’ then tell them, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am going to fill with drunkenness all who live in this land, including the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets and all those living in Jerusalem. I will smash them one against the other, parents and children alike, declares the Lord. I will allow no pity or mercy or compassion to keep me from destroying them.’”  Jeremiah 13:12-14

Note here that the Lord’s judgment would spare no one, and like someone who is drunk on wine, there would be nothing a person could do to help themselves.

No king’s power would be able to save them when they were drunk on the Lord’s judgment.

No priest’s holiness would be able to ward off becoming drunk on the Lord’s judgment.

No prophet’s ability to convey a message from God would prevent them from becoming drunk on the Lord’s judgment.

No one who lived in Jerusalem would be able to fend for themselves while drunken with the Lord’s judgment.

The consequences the Israelites would face was brought on by their own sinfulness and abandonment of God as they became intoxicated by the alluring nature of other gods and idols worshipped by pagans in their midst. God had commanded them to revere and honor Him alone and yet His people, the ones He had been so faithful for, chose to reject and disrespect Him.

And so God did what He had to do, bringing correction to His people minus His customary pity, mercy, and compassion. If the people wanted to side with wickedness over righteousness, then they would have to learn that it was the ultimate bad choice and destruction of their homeland followed by a seventy year exile to a foreign land at the hands of the Babylonians was the penalty God selected.

Friends, are we setting ourselves up today for a similar fate? Are we on the brink of being made drunk on God’s judgment, just as the Old Testament Israelites were?

These are completely valid questions and ones we had better ponder.

But only while we’re sober.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

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