SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/15/2014
8:34 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Judgment for
the Gentile Nations PT-1
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Jeremiah
25:15-29
Message of the
verses: We will begin to look at
what Jeremiah has written in the 25th chapter of his book about the
Gentile nations and how the Lord has and will judge them. “"Before I formed you in the womb I knew
you, And before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet
to the nations."” These are the
words from Jeremiah 1:5 which tell us and Jeremiah that God had called him to
be a prophet to the nations and we will see that in the remaining of this
chapter.
There
was no covenant given by God to these Gentile nations, but they were still
accountable to God as we see in Romans 1:18 and following and also in the first
two chapters of the book of Amos. Dr.
Wiersbe writes “In this message, Jeremiah used eight vivid images to describe
the judgment God was sending to the Gentiles.”
Dr. Wiersbe writes the following in an endnote which helps us to
understand more about the scope of what Jeremiah was writing about and to who
he was writing about in this section: “While
the main emphasis is on the world of Jeremiah’s day there may be a wider
application of these words to the nations at the end of the age, for Jeremiah
included ‘all the kingdoms of the world (Jer. 25:26). In their messages, the prophet often began
with a local situation and then used it as a springboard to describe something
God would do in the end times.” As I was
listening to this 25th chapter many times I could see exactly what
Dr. Wiersbe has written about in this endnote, but when I was reading over his
commentary I did not read the endnote and was a bit disappointed that he did
not mention it in his commentary. I am
glad for this endnote.
We will only look at the first of the vivid images from
the section in today’s SD, and will look at more of them in our next SD as they
are shorter in length.
The Cup of Wrath
(Jer. 25:15-29): “15 For thus the
LORD, the God of Israel, says to me, "Take this cup of the wine of wrath
from My hand and cause all the nations to whom I send you to drink it. 16 “They
will drink and stagger and go mad because of the sword that I will send among
them." 17 Then I took the cup from
the LORD’S hand and made all the nations to whom the LORD sent me drink it:
18 Jerusalem and the cities of Judah and
its kings and its princes, to make them a ruin, a horror, a hissing and a
curse, as it is this day; 19 Pharaoh
king of Egypt, his servants, his princes and all his people; 20 and all the foreign people, all the kings of
the land of Uz, all the kings of the land of the Philistines (even Ashkelon,
Gaza, Ekron and the remnant of Ashdod); 21
Edom, Moab and the sons of Ammon; 22
and all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon and the kings of the
coastlands which are beyond the sea; 23
and Dedan, Tema, Buz and all who cut the corners of their hair; 24 and all the kings of Arabia and all the kings
of the foreign people who dwell in the desert; 25 and all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of
Elam and all the kings of Media; 26 and
all the kings of the north, near and far, one with another; and all the
kingdoms of the earth which are upon the face of the ground, and the king of
Sheshach shall drink after them. 27 “You shall say to them, ’Thus says the LORD
of hosts, the God of Israel, "Drink, be drunk, vomit, fall and rise no
more because of the sword which I will send among you."’ 28 “And it will
be, if they refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink, then you will say
to them, ’Thus says the LORD of hosts: "You shall surely drink! 29 “For
behold, I am beginning to work calamity in this city which is called by My
name, and shall you be completely free from punishment? You will not be free
from punishment; for I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the
earth," declares the LORD of hosts.’”
As I was reading over this chapter it made me think of
the book of Revelations, which uses similar images to describe God’s judgment
upon the nations. We also see this image
in the Psalms and in the prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Hab. Let
us look at a couple from the book of Revelations: “8 And another angel, a second one, followed,
saying, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who has made all the nations drink of the wine
of the passion of her immorality." 9 Then another angel, a third
one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, "If anyone worships the
beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, 10 he also will drink of the wine
of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His
anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the
holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb (Rev. 14:8-10).” “The great city was split into three parts,
and the cities of the nations fell. Babylon the great was remembered before
God, to give her the cup of
the wine of His fierce wrath (Rev. 16:19).” “"Pay her back even as she has paid, and
give back to her double according to her deeds; in the cup which she has mixed, mix twice as much for her
(Rev. 18:6).”
The apostle Peter writes the following to help us
understand why God began with the judgment of His people: “For it is time for judgment to begin with
the household of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome
for those who do not obey the gospel of God? (1 Peter 4:17).” Let us also look at Ezekiel 9:6 “"Utterly
slay old men, young men, maidens, little children, and women, but do not touch
any man on whom is the mark; and
you shall start from My sanctuary." So they started with the elders
who were before the temple.”
We are not sure as to how Jeremiah meet with the leaders
from these different countries, but Dr. Wiersbe thinks that perhaps there is a
clue in Jeremiah 27:3 “and send word to the king of Edom, to the king of Moab,
to the king of the sons of Ammon, to the king of Tyre and to the king of Sidon
by the messengers who come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah.” Perhaps the people came to him.
Wiersbe writes “To drink a cup is a symbol of submission
to the will of God. ‘The cup which my
Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?’
(John 18:11). Jeremiah called the
nations to submit to God’s will, surrender to Nebuchadnezzar, and be spared
destruction. Jeremiah would later
illustrate this message by wearing a yoke (Jer. 27). If the nations didn’t drink the cup of
submission, they would end up drinking the cup of judgment and ‘get drunk and
vomit, and fall, to rise no more’ (25:27 NIV).”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: As a believer I
have the privilege of drinking the cup of wine (actually grape juice) as I
partake in the Lord’s Supper. This
reminds me of what Christ did for me on the cross as I look back at the broken
body of Christ and the shed blood that He shed for me to take away my
sins. This is only to be done for
believers and those who partake of it who are not believers will see the wrath
of God on them. It is also only for
believers who are in fellowship with the Lord and with His people as Paul wrote
about in 1 Cor. 11.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Stay in fellowship with the Lord and to keep
a short list with Him.
Memory verses for the
week: Philippians 2:5-9.
5 Have this attitude in
yourself which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form
of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied
Himself, taking on the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness
of man. 8 Being found in appearance as a
man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death
on a cross. 9 For this reason also, God
highly exalted Him, and bestowed upon Him the name which is above every name,
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Capernaum” (Luke 4:31).
Today’s Bible
question: “With whom did the leaders of
the synagogue of the Libertines have a dispute?”
Answer in our next SD.
6/15/2014 9:19 AM
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