Menu“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 nations to whom I send you drink it.’” – Jeremiah 25:15
Symbolic of divine judgment, especially against wicked nations, God gave these words to Jeremiah to speak to the people of Judah and Jerusalem. With disaster spreading from nation to nation, these words sound very applicable to us today.
In Jeremiah chapter 25, our loving God threatens His own beloved, chosen people with the “cup filled with the wine of My wrath.” God gives a similar prophecy of disaster in Isaiah 63. Why?
Do you remember “the grapes of wrath” from The Battle Hymn of the Republic? Inspired from Holy Scripture (Isaiah 63 and Jeremiah 25), it was written by Julia Ward Howe to describe God’s judgment upon the evils of slavery in the American South. The hymn became famous among the federal soldiers in the American Civil War as they fought a long, bloody war to keep the Union intact and free millions from slavery.
Reminded of that, John Steinbeck entitled his great American novel The Grapes of Wrath to depict the pathetic suffering of a desperate family during the Great Depression as they go from one disaster to another.
Why is God so wrathful? Why did He give these words (and much more!) to Jeremiah to speak to His chosen, beloved people? Why did God, through Jeremiah and Isaiah, predict 70 years of captivity and exile upon the people of Jerusalem and Judah? Why did God inflict that upon them? Why does He
today permit and even inflict disasters upon the nations (including us)?
Well, the people of Judah and Jerusalem didn’t like hearing about God’s judgment. They got mad at Jeremiah. All of them – priests, prophets, officials, and all the people got really mad. They arrested and threatened to kill him, saying, “This man should be sentenced to death because he has
prophesied against this city. You have heard it with your own ears!” (Jeremiah 26:11)
So Jeremiah tells them why God is so wrathful. He says, “The Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and this city all the things you have heard. Now reform your ways and your actions and obey the Lord your God. Then the Lord will relent and not bring the disaster He has pronounced against you. As for me, I am in your hands; do with me whatever you think is good and right…” (Jeremiah 26:12-15)
Jeremiah tells them that God is wrathful against them because they have turned away from the true God. They have fallen away into false beliefs and idolatry, adultery and sexual sins. They have refused to listen to the Word of God. But God is giving them a chance to repent. God promises to forgive them if they would only turn back to Him, trust Him, and love Him.
They decide to spare Jeremiah’s life, but they don’t turn back to God. So the cup of God’s wrath is poured out on them, just as Jeremiah warned, and they lose their country, their capital, their temple, their homes and their freedom. Some are killed. Many go into captivity. A few remain in abject poverty among the ashes of their ruined country.
But God did not forget His people, even though He punished them. He promised a restoration and a “new covenant” involving the forgiveness of sins. And on the night when He was betrayed, Jesus gave us that new covenant in His blood, shed for us on His cross for the forgiveness of our sins. Christ took the cup God’s wrath upon Himself, so that we may be made new in Him – forgiven, loved and saved. Let us as a nation turn to Him, repent, believe in Christ, and be saved.
For the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ, may our gracious God and Father, bless and keep you safe in this difficult time, and draw you closer to Him.
–Rev. Jeff Nickel