The Book of Jeremiah

Hebrew Study

Explanation

Jeremiah dates this word to "the fourth year of Jehoiakim... the first year of Nebuchadrezzar," a hinge moment as Babylon rises to power. He looks back over "the three and twentieth year" of his ministry, during which "the word of the LORD hath come unto me, and I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking; but ye have not hearkened." God had sent "all his servants the prophets" with one simple plea: "Turn ye again now every one from his evil way... and I will do you no hurt." The offer was mercy; the response was refusal, "to your own hurt." Now the sentence is pronounced. God will bring "all the families of the north," led by "Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant," against the land. Every ordinary joy will cease, "the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle", the whole land silenced into "a desolation." The duration is fixed: "these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years." But Babylon is no hero. When the seventy years are done, "I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation... for their iniquity." God uses Babylon, then judges Babylon. He is sovereign over every empire, and just toward every one.

Gospel Focus

Two truths shine here. First, God's patience is astonishing: for twenty-three years He kept "rising early and speaking," sending prophet after prophet, unwilling that any should perish. "The Lord is... longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9). But patience refused eventually gives way to judgment; mercy has a limit when it is persistently spurned. Second, God is completely sovereign over the nations. He can call even a pagan tyrant "my servant" and use him for His purposes, yet still hold him fully accountable, as He did Babylon. Nothing happens outside God's rule; "the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will" (Daniel 4:17). This should both humble and comfort us. The seventy years were not random; God set the term, and He kept it, so that Daniel could later read Jeremiah's book and know deliverance was near (Daniel 9:2), and the exiles returned exactly as God said. The God who numbers the years of captivity numbers our days too, and rules the rise and fall of every power for the good of His people and the glory of His name.

Hebrew Study

Explanation

Now the judgment widens from Judah to the whole world through a vivid symbolic act. God says, "Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations... to drink it." To drink this cup is to reel and fall under God's wrath, "be moved, and be mad, because of the sword." Jeremiah obeys, "Then took I the cup at the LORD'S hand," and the list of nations that must drink is sweeping. It begins, strikingly, with "Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah", judgment starts with God's own people, "as it is this day." Then Egypt, the Philistine cities, Uz, Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, Sidon, Arabia, Elam, the Medes, and "all the kingdoms of the world, which are upon the face of the earth." Last of all, "the king of Sheshach", Babylon in code, "shall drink after them." None is exempt; all must "Drink ye, and be drunken, and spue, and fall, and rise no more." And if any nation refuses the cup, God's answer is absolute: "Ye shall certainly drink." The reason is a solemn principle: "For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name, and should ye be utterly unpunished?" If God does not spare His own covenant city, no guilty nation can hope to escape. "I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth."

Gospel Focus

The cup of God's fury is one of the great threads that runs from the Prophets to the cross. Every guilty nation, and every guilty sinner, deserves to drink this cup, "the wine of the wrath of God" (Revelation 14:10). And here is the gospel: in Gethsemane, Jesus looked at that very cup and prayed, "O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt" (Matthew 26:39). What was "this cup"? It was the cup of God's righteous wrath against sin, the same cup Jeremiah made the nations drink. Then He said, "The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?" (John 18:11). At the cross, the sinless One drank the cup of fury to its dregs, so that all who trust in Him will never have to drink it. He was made "sin for us" and bore the wrath we deserved. Notice too the principle "judgment must begin at the house of God" (1 Peter 4:17); God dealt first with His own, and supremely with His own Son. So there are only two ways to relate to this cup: either drink it yourself under judgment, or receive the One who drank it for you. "Ye shall certainly drink," God warned the impenitent nations, but to the believer the cup at the Lord's table is now "the cup of blessing" (1 Corinthians 10:16), because Christ drained the cup of wrath in our place. Flee to Him, and the fury passes you by.

Hebrew Study

Explanation

The chapter closes with a terrifying poem of worldwide judgment. God is portrayed as a lion: "The LORD shall roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation." He is also the treader of grapes who "shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth." The reason is given in courtroom terms: "the LORD hath a controversy with the nations, he will plead with all flesh; he will give them that are wicked to the sword." This is no local skirmish but a judgment reaching "from one end of the earth even unto the other," so vast that "the slain of the LORD" will be too many to bury, "as dung upon the ground." The rulers of the nations, the "shepherds" and "principal of the flock," are summoned to mourning: "Howl, ye shepherds, and cry; and wallow yourselves in the ashes." Their day of "slaughter" has come, and "the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the principal of the flock to escape." Even Babylon, "the oppressor," is included; God rises "as the lion" from His lair, and before "the fierce anger of the LORD" the peaceful places of earth are "cut down." The message is plain: the God of Israel is the Judge of all the earth, and no ruler, however mighty, can escape His verdict.

Gospel Focus

"The LORD hath a controversy with the nations, he will plead with all flesh." Behind all the historical judgments of Jeremiah's day stands a final reality: the one true God is the righteous Judge of all the earth, and He has a just case against every rebellious heart. The roar of the lion and the shout of the grape-treader are pictures the New Testament takes up for the final day: "the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven... in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God" (2 Thessalonians 1:7-8), and the winepress "of the wrath of God" (Revelation 14:19). No earthly power, no clever ruler, will have "any way to flee" in that day. This is a sobering word, but it drives us to the gospel. The same Jesus who will one day roar as the "Lion of the tribe of Juda" (Revelation 5:5) first came as "the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). The Judge became the sacrifice. God's controversy with sinners is fully answered for all who take refuge in Christ; His wrath was poured out on the cross so that mercy can be poured out on us. There is no escaping the God who fills heaven and earth, but there is full refuge in the Saviour who bore His wrath. Do not wait for the roar of judgment; run now to the Lamb.