Jeremiah 25:19-26 – Only Christ's Cup Is Different
19 Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his princes, and all his people; 20 all the mixed multitude, all the kings of the land of Uz, all the kings of the land of the Philistines (namely, Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod); 21 Edom, Moab, and the people of Ammon; 22 all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the coastlands which are across the sea; 23 Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who are in the farthest corners; 24 all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the mixed multitude who dwell in the desert; 25 all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes; 26 all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another; and all the kingdoms of the world which are on the face of the earth. Also the king of Sheshach shall drink after them. Jeremiah 25:19-26, New King James Version
In his sermon, "The Devil's Banquet," Charles Spurgeon discerns a deeper principle in the hospitality by which the host in John's Gospel says the better wine is typically served first. The same, he announces, is true of how palatable sin's consequences are. "Sin carries an infant misery in its bowels, and sooner or later it must be delivered of its terrible child. If we sow the seed we must reap the harvest. Thus the law of hell's house stands—"first, the good wine, then, afterwards, that which is worse.'"
I consider the same idea as I peruse the list of nations in Jeremiah 25:19-26. The prophet is to offer them the cup of God's wrath and insist that they drink it. How telling, then, that Egypt is first in line for this deserved punishment! For, though Joseph was taken there by force and then was used of God to provide for the nascent nation of Israel, Abraham and Isaac went there by choice. They thought this kingdom, a biblical picture of the world, presented a haven, a safe bet, a way to be God's and yet be practical. In Jeremiah's own day, Egypt presents the same possibility, a way to ally the nation's chances to some factor other than God, a way to skirt the consequences of the exile God has foretold through Jeremiah.
Do we, brothers and sisters, sip of the cup of wrath in the same way? Are there respectable worldlings, respectable practices, we imitate when trouble comes rather than running to the countercultural tendencies of God's Word? We will only taste, we think. We will leave the bitter dregs of the world's worst, most alien and offensive tendencies. We will only drink a little too dull the pain of the moment.
Both cups are not offered us as Christ's. We take the cup from HIM, not in line with the world's practices and just desserts. Our cup, He said at the Last Supper, is taken in backward deliberation, in deliberate remembrance, of what He did on our behalf. In taking it with the worth He imparts, we hold out no hope that Egypt and her kindred can help us. We admit that our lot is common with theirs, but for the electing, interventional love of Christ Who drink down the wrath we deserve.
This commonality of our predicament, this constant amazement at the effectual love of Christ, is, perhaps, what the Spirit will use to make the nations listen to the Gospel from our lips. When we realize and proclaim that we deserve the full bitterness of the same cup, that the only reason we haven't experienced the worst of its consequences is the forbearance of Christ, perhaps He will grant some ears to hear and eyes to see before they get to the bottom of the cup.
In his sermon, "The Devil's Banquet," Charles Spurgeon discerns a deeper principle in the hospitality by which the host in John's Gospel says the better wine is typically served first. The same, he announces, is true of how palatable sin's consequences are. "Sin carries an infant misery in its bowels, and sooner or later it must be delivered of its terrible child. If we sow the seed we must reap the harvest. Thus the law of hell's house stands—"first, the good wine, then, afterwards, that which is worse.'"
I consider the same idea as I peruse the list of nations in Jeremiah 25:19-26. The prophet is to offer them the cup of God's wrath and insist that they drink it. How telling, then, that Egypt is first in line for this deserved punishment! For, though Joseph was taken there by force and then was used of God to provide for the nascent nation of Israel, Abraham and Isaac went there by choice. They thought this kingdom, a biblical picture of the world, presented a haven, a safe bet, a way to be God's and yet be practical. In Jeremiah's own day, Egypt presents the same possibility, a way to ally the nation's chances to some factor other than God, a way to skirt the consequences of the exile God has foretold through Jeremiah.
Do we, brothers and sisters, sip of the cup of wrath in the same way? Are there respectable worldlings, respectable practices, we imitate when trouble comes rather than running to the countercultural tendencies of God's Word? We will only taste, we think. We will leave the bitter dregs of the world's worst, most alien and offensive tendencies. We will only drink a little too dull the pain of the moment.
Both cups are not offered us as Christ's. We take the cup from HIM, not in line with the world's practices and just desserts. Our cup, He said at the Last Supper, is taken in backward deliberation, in deliberate remembrance, of what He did on our behalf. In taking it with the worth He imparts, we hold out no hope that Egypt and her kindred can help us. We admit that our lot is common with theirs, but for the electing, interventional love of Christ Who drink down the wrath we deserve.
This commonality of our predicament, this constant amazement at the effectual love of Christ, is, perhaps, what the Spirit will use to make the nations listen to the Gospel from our lips. When we realize and proclaim that we deserve the full bitterness of the same cup, that the only reason we haven't experienced the worst of its consequences is the forbearance of Christ, perhaps He will grant some ears to hear and eyes to see before they get to the bottom of the cup.
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