Cup of Wrath

Read Jeremiah 25, 35
 
Jeremiah 25:11b “Israel and her neighboring lands will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years. 12 Then, after the seventy years of captivity are over, I will punish the king of Babylon and his people for their sins,” says the LORD. “I will make the country of the Babylonians a wasteland forever.”
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17 So I took the cup of anger from the LORD and made all the nations drink from it—every nation to which the LORD sent me.
 
YOU may be wondering why some of the higher numbered chapters of Jeremiah relate to events in Judah and Jeremiah’s life that come before the lower numbered chapters. Jeremiah did not compile his prophecies in chronological order but more by subject matter. However, Jeremiah gave markers of when each prophecy occurred during the various kings’ reigns and Babylon’s conquest.  
   We see more evidence of God’s sovereign authority here. All events continue under his watchful eye. The LORD Almighty specifies his timetable for the exile and then tells of Babylon’s destruction.
   In addition, he instructs Jeremiah to pass his cup of anger to all the nations. The LORD gave Jeremiah a vision of this cup filled with his wrath. God’s wrath would come upon these nations through Babylon’s conquest. Then the LORD would judge Babylon to destruction to end the exile and restore his chosen people to Jerusalem and Judah.
   Through this prophecy and then its fulfillment, we can see a view of the final judgment day proclaimed in Revelation 16:19 The great city of Babylon split into three sections, and the cities of many nations fell into heaps of rubble. So God remembered all of Babylon’s sins, and he made her drink the cup that was filled with the wine of his fierce wrath. This prophecy points to an end of all evil. The Babylon here is the empire of evil that reigns in the world. God’s wrath will come upon the world’s nations. As he rebuilt Jerusalem after the exile, he will build a new Jerusalem for his church to dwell with him forever.
   Pay attention to the prophecies of old. They point toward your eternal future.