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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take from my hand
this cup filled with the wine of my wrath and make all the nations to whom I
send you drink it. When they drink it, they will stagger and go mad because of
the sword I will send among them.”
“So I took the cup from the Lord’s hand and made all the nations to whom
He sent me drink it: Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, its kings and officials,
to make them a ruin and an object of horror and scorn, a curse—as they are
today; Pharaoh king of Egypt, his attendants, his officials and all his people,
and all the foreign people there; all the kings of Uz; all the kings of the
Philistines (those of Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the people left at Ashdod); Edom,
Moab and Ammon; all the kings of Tyre and Sidon; the kings of the coastlands
across the sea; Dedan, Tema, Buz and all who are in distant places; all the
kings of Arabia and all the kings of the foreign people who live in the
wilderness; all the kings of Zimri, Elam and Media; and all the kings of the
north, near and far, one after the other—all the kingdoms on the face of the
earth. And after all of them, the king of Sheshak will drink it too.”
“Then tell them, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel,
says: Drink, get drunk and vomit, and fall to rise no more because of the sword
I will send among you.’ But if they refuse to take the cup from your hand and
drink, tell them, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty says: You must drink it! See,
I am beginning to bring disaster on the city that bears My Name, and will you
indeed go unpunished? You will not go unpunished, for I am calling down a sword
on all who live on the earth, declares the Lord Almighty.’”
“Now prophesy all these words against them and say to them: ‘The Lord
will roar from on high; He will thunder from His holy dwelling and roar
mightily against his land. He will shout like those who tread the grapes, shout
against all who live on the earth. The tumult will resound to the ends of the
earth, for the Lord will bring charges against the nations; He will bring
judgment on all mankind and put the wicked to the sword,’” declares the Lord.
This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Look! Disaster is spreading from
nation to nation; a mighty storm is rising from the ends of the earth.”
“At that time those slain by the Lord will be everywhere—from one end of
the earth to the other. They will not be mourned or gathered up or buried, but
will be like dung lying on the ground. Weep and wail, you shepherds; roll in
the dust, you leaders of the flock. For your time to be slaughtered has come; you
will fall like the best of the rams. The shepherds will have nowhere to flee, the
leaders of the flock no place to escape. Hear the cry of the shepherds, the
wailing of the leaders of the flock, for the Lord is destroying their pasture. The
peaceful meadows will be laid waste because of the fierce anger of the Lord. Like
a lion He will leave His lair, and their land will become desolate because of
the sword of the oppressor and because of the Lord’s fierce anger.”
Jeremiah 25:15-38
This ends today’s reading from God's holy
word. Thanks be to God.
NOTE: Starting tomorrow, I will be starting a series of holiday devotions
as we build toward Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem. I will resume my writings from
Jeremiah and continue our walk through the Bible after Christmas.
The Lord is everywhere and nothing is kept from His sight. We examined
this characteristic of Him, the fact that He is omnipresent, in a recent
devotion titled “The Three Omnis”.
Yes, God is ever with us and He witnesses all we do. With that, there is
never a time when we are not accountable to Him and the end result of that
accountability can result in two fundamental outcomes.
1. By living in a manner that is obedient to God’s word, will, and way, we
find ourselves in His favor and in a place where He blesses us.
2. By living in a manner that is sinful, disrespecting and dishonoring
God in the way we live, we find ourselves in the crosshairs of His judgment and
in a place where we can expect to suffer negative consequences for our negative
actions.
As we see in today’s scripture passage, the people of Judah and Jerusalem
were in the latter category, openly and blatantly violating God’s commands
while disregarding Him in exchange for the worship of other gods. Such a
decision resulted in dire discipline referred to in the closing verses from
Jeremiah 25 as drinking the cup of God’s wrath. Take another look at these
verses:
This is what the Lord, the God
of Israel, said to me: “Take from my hand this cup filled with the wine of my
wrath and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it. When they drink it,
they will stagger and go mad because of the sword I will send among them.”
“So I took the cup from the Lord’s
hand and made all the nations to whom He sent me drink it: Jerusalem and the
towns of Judah, its kings and officials, to make them a ruin and an object of
horror and scorn, a curse—as they are today; Pharaoh king of Egypt, his
attendants, his officials and all his people, and all the foreign people there;
all the kings of Uz; all the kings of the Philistines (those of Ashkelon, Gaza,
Ekron, and the people left at Ashdod); Edom, Moab and Ammon; all the kings of
Tyre and Sidon; the kings of the coastlands across the sea; Dedan, Tema, Buz
and all who are in distant places; all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of
the foreign people who live in the wilderness; all the kings of Zimri, Elam and
Media; and all the kings of the north, near and far, one after the other—all
the kingdoms on the face of the earth. And after all of them, the king of
Sheshak will drink it too.”
“Then tell them, ‘This is what
the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Drink, get drunk and vomit, and
fall to rise no more because of the sword I will send among you.’ But if they
refuse to take the cup from your hand and drink, tell them, ‘This is what the Lord
Almighty says: You must drink it! See, I am beginning to bring disaster on the
city that bears My Name, and will you indeed go unpunished? You will not go
unpunished, for I am calling down a sword on all who live on the earth,
declares the Lord Almighty.’”
“Now prophesy all these words
against them and say to them: ‘The Lord will roar from on high; He will thunder
from His holy dwelling and roar mightily against his land. He will shout like
those who tread the grapes, shout against all who live on the earth. The tumult
will resound to the ends of the earth, for the Lord will bring charges against
the nations; He will bring judgment on all mankind and put the wicked to the
sword,’” declares the Lord.
This is what the Lord Almighty
says: “Look! Disaster is spreading from nation to nation; a mighty storm is
rising from the ends of the earth.”
“At that time those slain by the
Lord will be everywhere—from one end of the earth to the other. They will not
be mourned or gathered up or buried, but will be like dung lying on the ground.
Weep and wail, you shepherds; roll in the dust, you leaders of the flock. For
your time to be slaughtered has come; you will fall like the best of the rams. The
shepherds will have nowhere to flee, the leaders of the flock no place to
escape. Hear the cry of the shepherds, the wailing of the leaders of the flock,
for the Lord is destroying their pasture. The peaceful meadows will be laid
waste because of the fierce anger of the Lord. Like a lion He will leave His
lair, and their land will become desolate because of the sword of the oppressor
and because of the Lord’s fierce anger.”
Jeremiah 25:15-38
Typically, wine was drunk in times of celebration and for one’s enjoyment
and pleasure but the wine mentioned in this passage was no ordinary wine. The
Lord Himself tells Jeremiah it is the wine of His wrath, wine that would make
any nation who drank it stagger and go mad from the penalty God would bring and
there were a multitude of nations listed who would be subject to the penalty
which included the sword God would send upon them, the sword being the invading
Babylonian forces. As for Judah and Jerusalem, their punishment would also include
God making them a ruin and cursed object of horror and scorn.
So what if a nation refused to drink from the cup of God’s wrath?
Well, they really had no other choice because God had His mind made up
and the nations who blatantly sinned against Him would not go unpunished. We
know because He said so Himself:
“See, I am beginning to bring disaster
on the city that bears My Name, and will you indeed go unpunished? You will not
go unpunished, for I am calling down a sword on all who live on the earth,
declares the Lord Almighty.’”
No one in any wicked nation would be spared from God’s correction. For
the Lord promised to:
1. Roar from on high and roar mightily against his land.
2. Thunder from His holy dwelling.
3. Shout like those who tread the grapes, shout against all who live on
the earth.
4. Bring a tumult that would resound to the ends of the earth.
5. Bring judgment on all mankind.
6. Put the wicked to the sword.
The Lord declared all this. It wasn’t the prophets who constructed the idea
as to how the Israelites and others should be penalized but rather God Himself,
the God who would spread disaster from nation to nation as He created a mighty
storm which rose from the ends of the earth.
And when the cup of wrath was drank and God’s judgment came, the
following verdicts would be rendered on those guilty of violating:
1. Many would end up slain from one end of the earth to the others as the
time for their slaughter had come with a clear message that God will not be
mocked or ignored.
2. Those that were killed during God’s punishment would have no proper
burial. Rather, they would not be mourned or gathered up or buried, but will be
like dung lying on the ground.
3. There would be nowhere to hide or escape from God’s wrath,
particularly for the shepherds and leaders of the flock who would see their
pastures and peaceful meadows laid destroyed by the stampeding fury of the
Babylonian army, a fury that was sanctioned and endorsed by God Himself.
4. In the end, lands would be left desolate because of the sword of the
oppressor (the Babylonians) and the Lord.
I think you can agree that this is a position that no one should ever
want to find themselves in when it comes to God. Unless they are certifiably
crazy, no one should want to drink from the cup of wrath. Instead, all people
should seek to live in a way that God favors with the focus on mimicking His
righteousness and holiness. For when we commit ourselves to this, we can move
to a place where our lives are free from sin, a place where the only cup we
will drink from is the cup of life which sustains us not only for today but
forever more.
Amen.
In
Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
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